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SPEECHES 



HON. HENRY^CLAY, 



CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



RICHARD CHAMBERS. 



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CINCINNATI: 

STEREOTYPED BY SHEPARD & STEARNS. 
West Third Street. 

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Entered according to the act of Congress In the year Eighteen Hundred ^- Forty one, 
by RICHARD CHAMBERS, in the Office oi the Clerk of the District of Indiana. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Biographical Sketch, 5 

On the Line of the Perdido, lb 

On the Bank Charter, 24 

On the Increase of the Navy, 35 

On the New Army Bill, 44 

On the Emancipation of South America, .... 62 

On the Seminole War, 87 

On the Tariff, Ill 

On Internal Improvement, 130 

On tlie Greek Revolution, 149 

In Defence of the American System, .... 156 

On the United States Bank Veto, 205 

On the Public Lands, 217 

On Duties and Imports, 248 

On the Compromise Bill of 1832, 262 

On the Indian Tribes, 279 

On the Appointing and Removing Power, . . . 294 

On the Expunging Resolution, 308 

On the Sub-Treasury, 323 

On Abolition Petitions, 363 

On the Distribution of the Proceeds of the Public Lands, 383 

On the Veto of tlie Bank of the United States, . . 428 

Rejoinder to Mr. Rives, ..... . . 445 

APPENDIX. 

On the Colonization of the Negroes, .... 451 

On the Bank Question, 453 

Address to Constituents, 459 

Speech at Hanover, Va 488 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Henry Clay was born in Hanover county, Virginia, 
on the 12th of April, 1777. His father, a respectable 
clergyman, died whilst his son Henry was yet quite 
young. At an early age, Henry received a good com- 
mon school education, and was placed in the office of 
Mr. Tinsley, Clerk of the High Court of Chancery, at 
Richmond, Virginia. His great intellectual powers and 
gentlemanly deportment brought him within the notice 
and acquaintance of men of talents and worth; among 
others, Governor Brooke and Chancellor Wythe, by 
whose advice, he commenced the study of the law. At 
the age of 20 he v»?as admitted to the bar, and soon after 
removed to Lexington, Kentucky, with a design to pur- 
sue the practice of his profession. 

Mr. Clay soon took high rank as a lawyer, although 
the Lexington Bar was then, as now, widely distinguished 
for learning and forensic eloquence. He early exhibited 
an intimate acquaintance with the principles of law, and 
his connexion with Mr. Tinsley had made him familiar 
with the practical learning of his profession. He made 
it an invariable rule to make himself intimately acquaint- 
ed with all the details of his case, before the time of trial. 
These advantages, added to his forcible and perspicuous 
arguments, — his masterly, earnest and skilful appeals to 
the passions, rendered his success rapid and permanent. 
His practice soon became extensive and lucrative. 

Kentucky was one of the first States of the Union 
which raised the voice of opposition against the odious 
alien and sedition law of the Federal party of 1798 and 
'99. Mr. Clay's devotion to the great cause of human 
rights and liberty was early exhibited in his eloquent and 
fearless denunciations of these high-handed measures. 
His bold vindications of the freedom of the press, the 
great bulwark of American liberty, the grace of his 
1* 



6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

manner, and above all the power of his elocution, pointed 
him out as an ardent and successful defender of the 
democratic party and its principles. Democratic prin- 
ciples then predominated in Kentucky; and through all 
the mutations of party, this State has ever proven herself 
stedfast in her devotion to these principles, and has never 
faltered in her course. In 1803, when Mr. Clay was 
only 25 years of age, he was elected to represent Fay- 
ette county, in the more numerous branch of the State 
Legislature. On this extended theatre he met Ken- 
tucky's most eloquent and able men, and soon became a 
prominent member; in the course of a few sessions he 
was elected Speaker. 

In 1 806, he was elected by the Legislature of Ken- 
tucky to fill a vacancy in their delegation to the Senate 
of the United States; and thus was this young plebeian, 
afterwards known as the Great Commoner, at the early 
age of 29, without family and without patrimony, by 
the energy and faithful application of his talent and ge- 
nius, and through his unwavering and eloquent support 
of popular rights, elevated to a seat in the most august 
assembly of modern times. » 

In 1809, Mr. Clay was again elected to fill a vacancy 
in the United States Senate. In 1811, at the expiration 
of his second term of service in the Senate, lie became 
a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives, 
and was, without difficulty, elected, and at the first session 
was chosen speaker of that body, a circumstance unpar- 
allelled in the history of legislation. 

Mr. Clay was the champion of the Republican Demo- 
cratic party, and supported the administration of Mr. 
Madison with all his influence and brilliant eloquence. 
He early discovered the necessity of a war with Great 
Britain, and boldly advocated that measure. He was 
foremost in devising and vindicating plans for the suc- 
cessful progress of the nation through this crisis, and was 
instrumental in procuring from Great Britain an honora- 
ble peace. While absent in Europe, on his mission to 
Ghent, he was again elected to Congress, and declining 
from Mr. Madison either a mission to Russia, or a place 
in the cabinet, he resumed his seat in the councils of his 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 7 

country, the representative of a free and generous peo- 
ple. 

The American people are acquainted with the subse- 
quent political career of this great man ; and to give in 
detail a history of the various measures which he has 
projected and advocated for advancing the interests and 
upholding the honor of his country, would be a task no 
less laborious than to write the history of the United 
States for the last twenty years. 

The speeches of Mr. Clay, presented to the public in 
this work, contain lessons of political wisdom and expe- 
rience, — the extended views of a statesman, — and em- 
body a system of American principles, regulating our 
national and internal governments, which cannot be 
found collected in any other work; and which, if acted 
upon and carried out in all their wide provisions, would 
elevate this Union far above every nation upon earth, in 
all that is beneficial to man, — make its citizens indepen- 
dent of the rest of the world, and ensure to posterity the 
blessings of a wise, patriotic and truly American system 
of legislation. 

It is considered unnecessary to say any thing by way 
of eulogy or praise of the speeches in this volume. He 
who will read them carefully, and honestly consider the 
principles they advance and support, will be the better 
able to pronounce a correct opinion with regard to their 
soundness, and to the merit of the work generally. But 
fearing lest the reader may pass too rapidly over a 
volume so truly fascinating, it may not be improper to 
request for some of the speeches a perusal of more than 
ordinary care. There are men of rare abilities, who are 
learned and eloquent in some of the walks of literature 
or science, or in some of the branches of political econo- 
my; but who, when taken out of their appropriate sphere, 
to which the thoughts and labor of their lives have been 
devoted, and thrust among a multiplicity of objects, and 
engaged in various pursuits, lose all their brilliancy and 
intellectual greatness. But Mr. Clay, like Chatham and 
Brougham, is not circumscribed by such narrow bounds; 
the grasp of his mind takes in the universe, and possess- 
ing the quality of untiring activity, is ever prepared to 



8 BIOaRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

attack or defend, to pull down or build up. He is in 
politics what Eumenius was in military affairs, ever 
foremost in defence of the right or in the attack of the 
wrong. 

It is probably true, that no public character, of the 
present day, has paid such accurate attention to, or ex- 
hibited so deep research in the early history of our di- 
plomatic correspondence, or so extensive an acquaint- 
ance with the treaties of foreign nations, with regard to 
the American colonies as has Mr. Clay. In his speech 
on the Perdido Line, he goes deeply into the investiga- 
tion of our early history, and traces it minutely up to 
1811, when the speech referred to was delivered. At 
that time, although Mr. Clay was comparatively young 
as a politician, he yet manifested all the comprehensive 
and far reaching sagacity of an experienced statesman, 
without any of the artifice of the intriguing diplomatist. 

The speech on American industry is a masterly effort 
of intellectual greatness and sober patriotism. The 
speaker saw the ruinous tendency of the policy of our 
government on this subject, and with a mind fully imbued 
with a sense of the great responsibility of his station, he 
besought the American people and their representatives 
to change their misguided policy. The prosperity of 
the country, immediately consequent upon favorable 
legislation on this subject, fully attests the clearness of 
his conceptions and the correctness of his principles. 

The speech on the Seminole war question, was deliv- 
ered in 1817, and should be read by every American. 
In it may be observed the lofty aspirations of the patriot 
jealous of his country's honor, mingled with manly for- 
bearance and generous delicacy toward the commanding 
officer in that war. Mr. Clay fearlessly arraigns the 
conduct of the General for a violation of orders in in- 
vading the Spanish territory, in disregarding the articles 
and rules of modern warfare, and in hanging prisoners 
of war. But he charitably ascribes what he conceived 
to be the misconduct of the General to a misapprehen- 
sion of his duty, rather than to bad or corrupt motives. 
Much of the subsequent abuse of executive influence 
and arbitrary assumption of power over other depart- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 9 

ments of the government can be traced to the prece- 
dent given in the Seminole war. If Mr. Monroe had 
ntot used his executive and cabinet influence with the 
members of Congress, it is almost certain that a vote of 
censure on the conduct of General Jackson would have 
been passed by that body, and this dark spot effaced from 
our national escutcheon. The declarations of Mr. Clay, 
on that occasion, were prophetic, and have been fully 
realized in the subsequent history of the government: it 
was remarked by Mr. Clay, " They may bear down all 
opposition; they may even vote the general the public 
thanks; they may carry him triumphantly through the 
house. But if they do, in my humble judgment, it will 
be a triumph of the principle of insubordination — a tri- 
umph of the military over the civil authority — a triumph 
over the powers of this House — a triumph over the con- 
stitution of the land." Executive usurpation, — violations 
of law, — corruption, — pi'oscription, — insubordination, — 
and profligacy of every species have fearfully increased 
since this fatal stab at our constitution. 

The speeches on the emancipation of the South Ameri- 
can provinces, and on the Greek revolution, strongly 
exhibit the universal benevolence of a true patriot. Ar- 
dent and eloquent in the cause of human rights and 
republican liberty, the speaker is ever foremost in 
originating and successful in carrying out those measures 
necessary to their protection and establishment. If de- 
feated in the first attempt, he falters not, — he settles his 
principles in the broad foundations of truth, and his 
course is onward, and still onward, until his object is 
achieved. 

There are some important measures which have been 
discussed in Congress, and in which Mr. Clay has taken 
a distinguished and leading part, upon which his speeches 
or views have never been published: such, for instance, 
as his speech in 1816, on the bank question, and his 
speech on the admission of Missouri into the Union. 
In a speech delivered in Kentucky, Mr. Clay remarked 
that his bank speech of 1816, had never been published 
for reasons unknown to him. No efforts have been 
spared to procure a copy of the speech on the Missouri 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

question; but it cannot be found. When that question 
threatened to dissolve the Union, when the angry waves 
of political contention were lashed into storm, all eyes 
were turned toward Henry Clay, as the only man in the 
nation who could calm the troubled ocean of human 
passion and intei-est. The great commoner, greatest in 
a great emergency, appeared; poured the oil of his elo- 
quence and wisdom upon the waters, and all was quiet- 
ness, — through iiis influence this vexed and dangerous 
question was safely and peaceably settled. 

Mr. Clay's unwavering devotion to the interest of his 
country and great firmness were never more conspicuous 
than in his defence of our Navy. At the time he came 
forward as an advocate for an increase of the navy, the 
measure was unpopular; but believing that the safety of 
our common country demanded an increase of this arm 
of the national defence, he hesitated not, but patiently 
and fearlessly contended for its adoption. 

Another j)ublic measure, and one of great importance, 
which has lately been consummated, is the distribution 
of the proceeds of the public lands among the several 
States. The success of this project is almost entirely 
owing to the efforts of Mr. Clay; his untiring zeal, una- 
bated ardor and deep devotion to the interest of the peo- 
ple, Jaiew no discouragements or disappointments; and 
although defeated by the President on one occasion, he 
still nobly continued to press this subject on the atten- 
tion of the people and their representatives, until he 
finally accomplished his object at the late extra session. 
And now, while credit and confidence, national and in- 
dividual, are most seriously impaired, the whole Union 
will feel the beneficial and salutary effects of this policy. 

Mr. Clay has also been the consistent advocate of a 
wise and economical system of Internal Improvement 
by the general government; the abandonment of which 
has induced that wild and improvident spirit of State 
legislation, resulting in a total prostration of credit, and 
leaving many of the States bankrupt in character and for- 
tune, — paralizing their energies and breaking the bonds of 
political and social life. As a branch of the improvement 
policy advocated by Mr. Clay, we may mention the Cum- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 11 

berland Road, a work which is more important and bene- 
ficial to the western country and to western interest, than 
any other single measure of the national government; and 
so long as this road continues to be the great thoroughfare 
from cast to west, and the highway of the Union, so long 
will it be the appropriate monument of his wise and ear- 
nest devotion to the good of the whole nation. 

The reader's attention is directed to the speech on the 
Expunging resolutions. When Mr. Benton introduced 
into the American senate his expunging resolutions, and 
asked that body to obliterate and deface the journal 
of its own proceedings, which the constitution had de- 
clared should remain inviolate; when an American states- 
man sought the violation of that instrument, which had 
given him his political existence and continued his poli- 
tical life, — the great defender of constitutional liberty 
was indignant, and poured forth a torrent of patriotic 
eloquence and convincing argument, which none could 
answer, and which none could withstand, but those who 
had sworn to appease the wrath of the old Roman, by a 
desecration of the ark of our political freedom. 

Mr. Clay's speech on the Sub-Treasury bill is another 
manifestation of his devotion to popular rights and a gov- 
ernment of the people. After one act of executive 
usurpation had foUowed another until many of the nicely 
adjusted balances and checks of our government had 
become deranged, and Mr. Van Buren had presented to 
Congress his fer-famed Sub-Treasury scheme, and which 
if securely established and made a part of our policy, 
would have placed in the hands of the Executive both 
the purse and the sword, and made our government a 
despotism; on this occasion the warning voice of Mr. 
Clay was heard in the councils of the nation, opposing 
this daring scheme of ambition, portraying with a mas- 
terly hand the odious and oppressive features of this 
measure, and exhibiting it to his countrymen in all its 
hideous deformity. 

And thus it has been, that through the entire political 
career of Mr. Clay, he has ever proved himself the sted- 
fast and efficient friend and champion of free govern- 
ment and human liberty throughout the world; the de- 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

fender of constitutional freedom and democratic princi- 
ples; the advocate of an economical administration of the 
general government; an enemy to executive usurpation^ 
tyranny and proscription; in favor of protecting our com- 
merce, agriculture, domestic manufactures and home in- 
dustry; the advocate of a national currency which shall 
equalize the exchanges and afford to all classes in our 
widely extended country, a sound and convenient cir- 
culating medium for all the diversified transactions and 
business of life; in favor of the gradual abolition of slavery 
in the United States; the avenger of the wrongs of the 
Indian; the faithful and zealous supporter and friend of 
the whole Union, and wherever or whenever disunion 
or anarchy have presented themselves, threatening to 
dissolve the government, Leonidas like, regardless of dan- 
ger, and thinking only of the constitution and its safety, 
he throws himself into the breach, and has rescued re- 
peatedly the noble fabric of our government from im- 
pending peril and dissolution; has extorted from the pres- 
ent generation a character, which posterity will proudly 
seal with their approval, that of the Great Pacificator. 




mi^j^Tim ©Ei^s; 




CLAY'S SPEECHES. 



SPEECHES, ETC. 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

Speech in the Senate of the United States, on the subject of the 
Territory west of the Perdido, delivered 2oth December, 1810. 

Mr. President, 

It would have gratified me if some other gentleman had un- 
dertaken to reply to the ingenious argument, which you have 
just heard. (Speech of Mr. Horsey.) But not perceiving any 
one disposed to do so, a sense of duty obliges me, though very 
unwell, to claim your indulgence, whilst I offer my sentiments on 
this subject, so interesting to the union at large, but especially 
to the western portion of it. Allow me, sir, to express my admi- 
ration at tlie more than Aristidean justice, which in a question 
of territorial title, between the United States and a foreign na- 
tion, induces certain gentlemen to espouse the pretensions of the 
foreign nation. Doubtless in any future negotiations, she will 
have too much magnanimity to avail herself of these spontane- 
ous concessions in her favor, made on the floor of the Senate of 
tlie United States. 

It was to have been expected that in a question like the pre- 
sent, gentlemen, even on the same side, would have diSerent 
views, and although arriving at a common conclusion, would do 
eo by various arguments. And hence the honorable gentleman 
from Vermont, entertains doubt with regard to our tiSe against 
Spain, whilst he feels entirely satisfied of it against France. Be- 
lieving, as I do, that our title against both powers is indisputable, 
under the treaty of St. Ildefonso, between Spain and France, and 
the treaty between the French Republic and the United States, 
I shall not inquire into the treachery, by which tlie king of Spain 
is alleged to have lost his crown ; nor sliall I stop to discuss the 
question involved in the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy, 
and how far the power of Spain ought to be considered as merg- 
ed in that of France. I shall leave the honorable gentleman 
from Delaware to mourn over the fortunes of the fallen Charles. 
I have no commiseration for princes. My sympatlaies are reserv- 
ed for the great mass of mankind, and I own that the people of 
Spain have them most sincerely. 



]6 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

I will adopt the course suggested by the nature of the subject 
and pursued by other gentlemen, of examming into our title to 
the country lying between the Mississippi and the Rio Perdido, 
(which to avoid circumlocution, I will call West Florida, although 
it is not the whole of it.) and the propriety of the recent measures 
taken lor the occupation of that territory. Our title, then, de- 
pends, first, upon the limits of the province, or colony of Louisi- 
ana, and secondly, upon a just exposition of the treaties before 
mentioned. 

On this occasion it is only necessary to fix the eastern bound- 
ary. In order to ascertain this, it Avill be proper to take a cur- 
sory view of the settlement of the country, because the basis of 
European title to colonies in America, is prior discovery, or prior 
occupancy. In 16S2, La Salle migrated from Canada, then 
owned by France, descended the Mississippi, and named the 
country which it waters, Louisiana. About 1698, D'Iberville dis- 
covered by sea, the mouth of the Mississippi, established a colo- 
ny at the Isle Dauphine, or Massacre, which lies at the mouth 
of the bay of Mobile, and one at the mouth of the river Mobile, 
and was appointed bj^ France, governor of the country. In the 
year 1717, the famous West India company sent inhabitants to 
the Isle Dauphine, and found some of those who had been set- 
tled there under the auspices of D'Iberville. About the same 
period, Baloxi, near the Pascagoula, was settled. In 1719, the 
city of New Orleans was laid off, and the seat of government of 
Louisiana Avas established there ; and in 1736, the French erected 
a fort on the Tombigbee. These facts prove that France had 
the actual possession of the country as far east as the Mobile at 
least. But the great instrument which ascertains, beyond all 
doubt, that the country in question is comprehended within the 
limits of Louisiana, is one of the most authentic and solemn 
character which the archives of a nation can furnish ; I mean 
the patent granted in 1712, by Louis XIV, to Crozat — [Here 
Mr. C. read such parts of the patent as were applicable to the 
subject.*] According to this document, in describing the pro- 

♦ Elxtracl from the Grant to Crozat, dated at 

^^ Fontainble-u, Sept. 14, 1712 
" Louis, By the grace of God, &c. 

" The care we have always had to procure the welfare and advantage of our sub- 
jects, having induced us, cVc. to seek for all possible opportunities of enlarging and 
extending the trade of our American colonies, we did, in the year 1683, give our or- 
ders to undertake a discovery of the countries and lands which are situated in the 
northern part of America, between New France and New Mexico ; and the Sieur de 
la Salle, to whom we committed that enterprise, having had success, enough to con- 
firm a belief that a commuuicalion might be settled from New France to the Gnlf 
of Mexico, by means of large rivers, this obliged us, inmiediately after the peace of 
Kyswic, to give orders for establishing a colony there, and maintaining a garrison, 
which lias kept and preserved the possessio?i we had taken i7i tlie very year 1683, 
of the lands, coasis, and islands which are situated in the Gulf of Mexico between 
Carolina on tlie east, and Old and New Mexico on the west. "Bui a new war having 
broke out in Europe shortly after, there was no possibility, till now, of reaping from that 
Colony the advantages that miKlii have been expected from thence, &c. And where- 
as, upon the infurmaiion we have received concerning the disposition and situation of 
the said countries, known at present by the name of the Province of Louisiana, we 
are of opinion, that there may be established ihereia coasidcrable commerce, jto 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 17 

vince, or colony of Louisiana, it is declared to be bounded by 
Carolina on the east, and Old and New Mexico on the west. 
Under this high record evidence, it might be insisted that we have 
a fair claim to East as well as West Florida, against France at 
least, unless she has by some convention, or other obligatory act, 
restricted the eastern limit of the province. It has, indeed, been 
asserted that by a treaty between France and Spain, concluded 
in the year 1719, the Perdido was expressly stipulated to be the 
boundary between their respective provinces of Florida on the 
East, and Louisiana on the West ; but as I have been unable to 
find any such treaty, I am induced to doubt its existence. 

About the same period, to-wit : towards the close of the seven- 
teenth century, when France settled the Isle Daupliine, and the 
Mobile, Spain erected a Ibrt at Pensacola. But Spain never 
pushed her actual settlements, or conquests, farther west than 
the bay of Pensacola, whilst those of the French were bounded 
on the east by the Mobile. Between those two points, a space 
of about thirteen or fourteen leagues, neither nation had the ex- 
clusive possession. The Rio Perdido, forming the bay of the 
same name, discharges itself into the gulf of Mexico, between 
the Mobile and Pensacola, and, being a natural and the most 
notorious object between them, presented itself as a suitable 
boundary between the possessions of the two nations. It accor- 
dingly, appears very early to have been adopted as the boundary 
by tacit, if not expressetl, consent. The ancient charts and his- 
torians, therefore, of the country, so represent it. Dupratz, one 
of the most accurate historians of the time, in point of fact and 
detail, whose work was published as early as 1758, describes the 
coast as being bounded on the east by the Rio Perdido. In 
truth, sir, no European nation whatever, except France, ever oc- 
cupied any portion of west Florida, prior to her cession of it to 
England in 1762. The gentlemen on the other side do not, in- 
deed, strongly controvert, if they do not expressly admit, that 
Louisiana, as held by tlie French anterior to her cessions of it in 
1762, extended to the Perdido. The only observation made by 
tlte gentleman from Delaware to the contrary', to-wit: that tlie 
island of New Orleans being particularly mentioned, could not, 

we have resolved lo grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana to the Sietir An- 
thony Crozat, &c. For these reasons, &,c., we, by these presents, signed by our hand, 
have appointeii and do appoint the said Sieur Crozat, to carry on a trade in all the 
lands possessed by lis, and bounded by New Blexico and by the lands of the English, 
of Carolina, all tlie establishments, ports, havens, rivers, and principally the port 
and haven of the Isle Dauphine, heretofore called Massacre ; the river of St. Louis, 
heretofore called Mississippi, from the edce of tlie sea as far as the Illinois, together 
with the river &t. Philip, heretofore called the Missouri, and of St, Jerome, heretofore 
called Onabache, with all the countries, territories, and lakfs within land, and the 
rivers which fall directly or indirectly into that part of the river St. Louis. 

The Articles— \. Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid lands, countries, streams, 
rivers, and islands be, and remain comprised under the name of the government of 
Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the general government of New France, 
to which it is subordinate : and further, that all the lands which we possess from the 
Illinois, be united, &c. to the general government of New France, and become part 
thereof, &c." 

2* 



18 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

for that reason, constitute a part of Louisiana, is susceptible of a 
very satisfactory answer. That island was excepted out of the 
grant to England, and was the only part of the province east of 
Sie river that was so excepted. It formed in itself one of the 
most prominent and important objects of the cession to Spain 
originally, and was transferred to her with the portion of the pro- 
vince west of the Mississippi. It might with equal propriety, be 
urged that St. Augustine is not in East Florida, because St. Au- 
gustine is expressly mentioned by Spain in her cession of that 
province to England. From this view of the subject, I think it 
results that the province of Louisiana comprised West Florida 
previous to tlie year 1762. 

What was done with it at this epoch ? By a secret conven- 
tion, of the 3d of November, of that year, France ceded the coun- 
try lying west of the Mississippi, and the island of New Orleans, 
to Spain ; and by a contemporaneous act, the articles preliminary 
to the definitive treaty of 1763, she transferred West Florida to 
England. . Thus at the same instant of time, she alienated the 
whole province. Posterior to this grant. Great Britain having 
also acquired from Spain her possessions east of the Mississippi, 
erected the country into two provinces, East and West Florida. 
In this state of things it continued until the peace of 1783. when 
Great Britain, in consequence of the eveiits of the war, surren- 
dered tlie country to Spain, who for the first time came into ac- 
tual possession of West Florida. Well, sir, how does she dispose 
of it? She re-annexes it to the residue of Louisiajia — extends 
tlie jurisdiction of tliat government to it, and subjects the gover- 
nors, or commandants, of the districts of Baton Rouge, Feliciana, 
Mobile, and Pensacola, to the authority of the governor of Lou- 
isiana, residing at New Orleans ; while the governor of East 
Florida is placed wholly without his control, and is made amena- 
ble directly to the governor of the Havannah. Indeed, sir, I 
have been credibly inlbrmed that all the concessions, or grants 
of land, made in West Florida, under the authority of Spain, run 
in the name of the gorcrnmenf, of Louisiana. You cannot have 
forgotten that, about the period when we took possession of New 
Orleans, under the treaty of cession from , France, the whole 
country resounded with the nefarious speculations which were 
alleged to be making in that city with the connivance, if not ac- 
tual participation of the Spanish authorities, by the procurement 
of surreptitious grants of land, particularly in the district of Fe- 
liciana. "West Florida, then, not only as France had held it, but 
as it was in the hands of Spain, made a part of the province of 
Louisiana ; as much so as the jurisdiction, or district of Baton 
Rouge constituted a part of West Florida. 

What, then, is the true construction of the treaties of St. 
Ildefonso, and of April, 1803, from whence our title is derived? 
If an ambiguity exist in a grant, the interpretation most favora- 
ble to the grantee is preferred. It was the duty of the grantor 
to have expressed himself in plain and intelligible terms. This 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 19 

is the doctrine, not of Coke only, (whose dicta I admit have 
nothing to do with the question,) but of the code of universal 
law. The doctrine is entitled to augmented force, when a clause 
only of the instrument is exhibited, in which clause the ambiguity 
lurks, and the residue of the instrument is kept back by the 
grantor. The entire convention of 1762, by whicli France trans- 
ferred Louisiana to Spain, is concealed, and the whole of the 
treaty of St. Ildefonso, except a solitary clause. We are thus 
deprived of the aid which a full view of both of those instruments 
would afford. But we have no occasion to resort to any rules 
of construction, however reasonable in themselves, to establish 
our title. A competent knowledge of the facts, connected with 
the case, and a candid appeal to the treaties, are alone sufficient 
to manifest our right. The negotiators of the treaty of 1803, 
having signed, with the same ceremony, two copies, one in En- 
glish and the other in the French language, it has been contended 
tliat in the English version, the term "cede" has been errone- 
ously used instead of '"retrocede," which is the expression in the 
French copy. And it is argued that we are bound by the phra- 
seology of the French copy, because it is declared that the treaty 
was agreed to in that language. It would not be very unfair to 
inquire if this is not like the common case in private life, where 
individuals enter into a contract, of which each party retains 
a copy, duly executed. In such case, neither has the prefer- 
ence. We might as well say to France, we will cling by the 
Enghsh copy, as she could insist upon an adherence to the 
French copy; and if she urged ignorance on the part of Mr. 
Marbois, her negotiator, of our language, we might with equal 
propriety plead ignorance on the part of our negotiators of her 
language. As this, however, is a disputable point, I do not avail 
myself of it; gentlemen shall have the full benefit of the expres- 
sions in tlie French copy. According to this, then, in reciting 
the treaty of St. Ildefonso, it is declared by Spain, in ISOO, that 
she retrocedes to France the colony or province of Louisiana, 
with the same extent wliich it then had in the hands of Spain, 
and which it had when France possessed it, and such as it should 
be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain 
and other states. This latter member of the description has 
been sufficiently explained by my colleague. 

It is said that since France, in 1762, ceded to Spain only 
Louisiana west of the Mississippi, and the island of New-Or- 
leans, the retrocession comprehended no more — that the retro- 
cession ex vi termini was commensurate with, and limited by, 
the direct cession from France to Spain. If this were true, then 
the description, such as Spain held it, that is in 1800, comprising 
West Florida, and such as France possessed it, that is in 1762. 
prior to the several cessions, comprising also West Florida, 
would be totally inoperative. But the definition of the term 
retrocession, contended for by the other side, is denied. It does 
not exclude the instrumentality of a third party. It means resto- 



20 ON THE LINE OP THE PERDIDO. 

ration, or re-conveya.nce of a thing originally ceded, and so the 
gentleman from Delaware acknowledged. I admit that the 
thing restored must have come to the restoring party from the 
party to whom it is retroceded; whether directly or indirectly is 
wholly immaterial. In its passage it may have come through 
a dozen hands. The retroceding party must claim under and 
in virtue of the right originally possessed by the party to whom 
the retrocession takes place. Allow me to put a case: You 
own an estate called Louisiana. You convey one moiety of it 
to the gentleman from Delaware, and the other tome; he con- 
veys his moiety to me, and I thus become entitled to the whole. 
By a suitable instrument I re-convey, or retrocede the estate 
called Louisiana to you as I now hold it, and as you held it ; 
what passes to you? The whole estate, or my n:ioiety only? 
Let me indulge another supposition — that the gentleman from 
Delaware, after he received from you his moiety, bestowed a 
new denomination upon it and called it West B'lorida — would 
tliat circumstance vary the operation of my act of retrocession 
to you? The case supposed is in truth ihe real one between the 
United States and Spain. France, in 1762, transfers Louisiana, 
west of the Mississippi, to Spain, and at the same time conveys 
the eastern portion of it, exclusive of New-Orleans, to Great 
Britain. Twenty-one years after, that is, in 1783, Great Britain 
cedes her part to Spain, who thus becomes possessed of the 
entire province; one portion by direct cession from France, and 
the residue by indirect cession. Spain then held the whole of 
Louisiana nnder France, and in virtue of the title of France. 
The whole moved or passed from France to her. When, there- 
fore, in this state of things, she says, in the treaty of St. Ilde- 
fonso. that she retroccdes the province to France, can a doubt 
exist that she parts with, and gives back to France, the entire 
colony? To preclude the possibility ol' such a doubt, she adds, 
that she restores it, not in a mutilated condition, but in that 
precise condition in which France had, and she herself pos- 
sessed it. 

Having thus shown, as I conceive, a clear right in the United 
States to West Florida, I proceed to inquire if tjie proclamation 
of the President directing the occupation of property, which is 
thus fairly acquired by solemn treaty, be an unauthorized mea- 
sure of war and of legislation, as has been contended? 

The act of October, 1S03, contains two sections, by one of 
which the President is authorized to occupy the territories 
ceded to us by France in the April preceding. The other 
empowers the President to establish a provisional government 
there. The first section is unlimited in its duration ; the other 
is restricted to the expiration of the then session of Congress. 
The act therefore of March, 1S04, declaring that the previous 
act of October should continue in force until the 1st of October, 
1804, is applicable to the second and not the first section, and 
was intended to continue the provisional government of the 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 21 

President. By the act of 24th February, 1S04, for laying duties 
on goods imported into the ceded territories, the President is 
empowered, ichenever he deems it expedient, to erect the bay 
and river Mobile, &c., into a separate district, and to establit^h 
therein a port of entry and delivery. By this same act tlie Or- 
leans territory is laid off, and its boundaries are so defined as to 
comprehend West Florida. By other acts, the President is 
authorized to remove by force, under certain circumstances, 
persons settling on or taking possession of lands ceded to the 
United States. 

These laws furnish a legislative construction of the treaty, 
corresponding with that given by the Executive, and they indis- 
putably vest in this branch of the general government the power 
to take possession of the country, whenever it might be proper 
in his discretion. The President has not therefore violated the 
constitution and usurped the war-making power, but he would 
have violated that provision which requires him to see that the 
laws are faithfully executed, if he had longer forborne to ox-t. 
It is urged that he has assumed powers belonging to Congress, 
in undertaking to annex the portion of West Florida, between 
the Mississippi and the Perdido, to the Orleans territory. But 
Congress, as has been shown, has already made this annexation, 
the limits of the Orleans territory, as prescribed by Congress, 
comprehending the country in question. The President, by his 
proclamation, has not made law, but has merely declared to the 
people of West Florida what the laAv is. This is the office of a 
proclamation, and it was highly proper that the people of that 
territory should be thus notified. By the act of occupying the 
country, the government de facto, whether of Spain or the revo- 
lutionists, ceased to exist; and the laws of the Orleans territory 
applicable to the country, by the operation and force of law 
attached to it. But this was a state of things wliich the people 
might not know, and which every dictate of justice and humanity 
therefore required should be proclaimed. I consider the bill 
before us merely in the light of a declaratory law. 

Never could a more propitious moment present itself for the 
exercise of the discretionary power placed in the President, and 
had he failed to embrace it, he would have been criminally inat- 
tentive to the dearest interests of this country. It cannot be too 
often repeated, that if Cuba on the one hand, and Florida on 
the other, are in the possession of a foreign maritime power, the- 
immense extent of country belonging to the United States, and 
watered by streams discharging themselves into the Gulf of 
Mexico — that is one-tliird, nay, more than two-thirds of the 
United States, comprehending Louisiana, are placed at the 
mercy of that power. The possession of Florida is a guarantee 
absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of tJie navigation of those 
streams. The gentleman from Delaware anticipates the most 
direful consequences from the occupation of the country. He 
supposes a sally from a Spanish garrison upon the Araericaa 



22 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

forces, and asks what is to be done? We attempt a peaceful 
possession of the country to which we are fairly entitled. If the 
wrongful occupants under the authority of Spain assail our 
troops, I trust they will retrieve the lost honor of the nation in 
tlie case of the Chesapeake. Suppose an attack upon any por- 
tion of the American army within the acknowledged limits of the 
United States by a Spanish force? In such event there would 
exist but a single honorable and manly course. The gentleman 
conceives it ungenerous that we should at this moment, Avhen 
Spain is encompassed and pressed on all sides by the immense 
power of her enemy, occupy West Florida. Shall we sit by 
passive spectators, and witness the interesting transactions of 
that country — transactions which tend, in the most imminent 
degree, to jeopardize our rights, without attempting to interfere? 
Are you prepared to see a foreign power seize what belongs to 
us? I have heard in the most credible manner that, about the 
period when the President took his measures in relation to that 
country, agents of a foreign power were intriguing with the 
people there, to induce them to come under his dominion: but 
whether this be the fact or not, it cannot be doubted that, if you 
neglect the present auspicious moment — if you reject the prof 
fered boon, some other nation, profiting by your errors, will seize 
the occasion to get a fatal footing in your southern frontier. I 
have no hesitation in saying, that if a parent country will not 
or cannot maintain its authority in a Colony adjacent to us, and 
there exists in it a state of misrule and disorder, menacing our 
peace, and if moreover such Colony, by passing into the hands 
of any other power, would become dangerous to the integrity 
of the Union, and manifestly tend to the subversion of our laws, 
we have a right, upon the eternal principles of self-preservation, 
to lay hold upon it. This principle alone, independent of any 
title, would warrant our occupation of West Florida. But it is 
not necessary to resort to it, our title being in my judgment 
incontestibly good. We are told of the vengeance of resusci- 
tated Spain. If Spain, under any modification of her govern- 
ment, choose to make war upon us, lor the act under conside- 
ration, the nation, I have no doubt, will be willing to embark in 
such a contest. But the gentleman reminds us that Great 
Britain, the ally of Spain, may be obliged, by her connexion 
with that country, to take part with her against us, and to con- 
sider this measure of the President as justifying an appeal to 
arms. Sir, is the time never to arrive when we may manage 
our own affairs witliout the fear of insulting His Britannic 
Majesty? Is the rod of British power to be forever suspended 
over our heads? Does Congress put on an embargo to shelter 
our rightful commerce against the piratical depredations com- 
mitted upon it on the ocean — we are immediately warned of 
the indignation of offended England. Is a law of non-intercourse 
proposed — the whole navy of the haughty mistress of the seas 
is made to thunder in our ears. Does tlie President refuse to 



ON THE LINE OP THE PERDIDO. 23 

continue a correspondence with a minister who violates the 
decorum belonging to his diplomatic character, by giving and 
deliberately repeating an affront to the whole nation — we are 
instantly menaced with the chastisement which English pride 
will not fail to inflict. Whether we assert our rights by sea, 
or attempt their maintenance by land — whithersoever we turn 
ourselves, this phantom incessantly pursues us. Already has it 
had too much influence on the councils of the nation. It con- 
tributed to the repeal of the embargo — that dishonorable repeal, 
which has so much tarnished the character of our government. 
Mr. President, I have before said on this floor, and now take 
occasion to remark, that I most sincerely desire peace and 
amity with England; that I even prefer an adjustment of all 
differences with her, before one with any other nation. But 
if she persists in a denial of justice to us, or if she avails her- 
self of the occupation of West Florida to commence war upon 
us, I trust and hope that all hearts will unite in a bold and 
vigorous vindication of our rights. I do not believe, however, 
in the prediction that war will be the effect of the measure in 
question. 

It is asked why, some years ago, when the interruption of the 
right of deposit took place at New-Orleans, the government did 
not declare war against Spain, and how it has happened that 
tliere has been this long acquiescence in the Spanish possession 
of West Florida? The answer is obvious. It consists in the 
genius of the nation, which is prone to peace; in that desire to 
arrange, by friendly negotiation, our disputes with all nations, 
which has constantly influenced the present and preceding ad- 
ministration; and in the jealousy of armies, with which we have 
been inspired by the melancholy experience of free estates. But 
a new state of things has arisen: negotiation has become hopeless. 
The power with whom it was to be conducted, if not annihilated, 
is in a situation that precludes it; and the subject-matter of it is 
in danger of being snatched forever from our power. Longer 
delay would be construed into a dereliction of our right, and 
would amount to treachery to ourselves. May I ask, in my turn, 
why certain gentlemen, now so fearful of war, were so urgent 
for it with Spain when she withheld the right of deposit? and 
still later, when in 1805 or 6 this very subject of tlie actual limits 
of Louisiana was betbre Congress? I will not say, because I 
do not know that I am authorized to saj-, that the motive is to 
he found in the change of relation between Spain and other 
European powers, since those periods. 

Does the honorable gentleman from Delaware really believe 
that he finds in St. Domingo a case parallel with that of West 
Florida? and that our government, having interdicted an illicit 
commerce with the former, ouglit not to have interposed in rela- 
tion to tlie latter. It is scarcely necessary to consume your time 
by remarking that we had no pretensions to that island; that it 
did not menace our repose, nor did the safety of the United 



24 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

States require that they should occupy it. It became, therefore, 
our duty to attend to the just remonstrance of France against 
American citizens supplying the rebels with the means of resist- 
ing her power. 

I am not, sir, in favor of cherishing the passion of conquest. 
But I must be permitted, in conclusion, to indulge the hope of 
seeing, ere long, the new United States, (if you will allow me 
tlie expression,) embracing, not only the old thirteen States, but 
the entire country cast of the Mississippi, including East Florida, 
and some of the territories of the north of us also. 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

Speech on the question of renewins: the charter of the Bank of 
the United States, delivered in the Senate, 1811. 

Mr. President, 
When the subject involved in the motion now under conside- 
ration was depending before the other branch of the legislature, 
a disposition to acquiesce in their decision was evinced. For al- 
though the committee who reported this bill had been raised 
many weeks prior to the determination of that house on the pro- 
position to re-charter tlie bank, except the occasional reference 
to it of memorials and petitions, we scarcely ever heard of it. 
The rejection, it is true, of a measure brought before either 
branch of Congress does not absolutely preclude the other from 
taking up the same proposition ; but the economy of our time, 
and a just deference for the opinion of others, would seem to re- 
commend a delicate and cautious exercise of this power. As 
tliis subject, at the memorable period when the charter was 
granted, called forth the best talents of the nation — as it has, on 
various occasions, undergone the most thorough investigation, 
and as we can hardly expect tliat it is susceptible of receiving 
any farther elucidation, it was to be hoped that Ave sliould have 
been spared useless debate. This was the more desirable be- 
cause there are, I conceive, much superior claims upon us for ev- 
ery hour of tlie small portion of the session yet remaining to us. 
Under the operation of these motives, I had resolved to give a 
silent vote, until I felt myself bound, by the defying manner ot* 
the arguments advanced in support of the renewal, to obey the 
paramount duties I owe my country and its constitution ; to make 
one effort, however feeble, to avert the passage of what appears 
to me a most unjuslifiable law. After mj' honorable friend from 
Virginia (Mr. Giles) had instructed and amused us with the very 
able and ingenious argument which he delivered on yesterday, 
I should have still forborne to trespass on the Senate but for the 
extraordinary character of his speech. He discussed both sides 
of the question with great ability and eloquence, and certainly 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 25 

demonstrated to the satisfaction of all who heard him, both that 
it was constitutional and unconstitutional, hifrhly proper and im- 
proper to prolong the charter of the bank. The honorable gen- 
tleman appeared lo me in the predicament in which the celebra- 
ted orator of Virginia, Patrick Henry, is said to have been once 
placed. Engaged in a most extensive and lucrative practice of 
the law, he mistook in one instance the side of the cause in which 
he was retained, and addressed the court and jury in a very 
masterly and convincing speech in behalf of his antagonist. His 
distracted client came up to him whilst he was thus employed, 
and interrupting him, bitterly exclaimed. " you have undone me ! 
^ou have ruined me !" — " Never mind, give yourself no concern," 
said the adroit advocate ; and turning to the court and jury, con- 
tinued his argument by observing, " may it please your honors, 
and you, gentlemen of the jury, I have been stating to you what 
I presume my adversary may urge on his side. I will now show 
you how fallacious his reasoning and groundless his pretensions 
are." The skilful orator proceeded, satisfactorily refuted every 
argument he had advanced, and gained his cause ! A success 
with which I trust the exertion of my honorable friend will on 
this occasion be crowned. 

It has been said by the honorable gentleman from Georgia, 
(Mr. Crawford) that this has been made a party question, al- 
though the law incorporating the bank was passed prior to the 
formation of parties, and when Congress was not biassed by 
party prejudices. (r\Ir. Crawford explained. He did not mean 
that it had been maile a party question in the senate. His allu- 
sion was elsewhere.) I do not think it altogether fair to refer to 
the discussions in the house of representatives, as gentlemen be- 
longing to that body have no opportunity of defending them- 
selves here. It is true that this law was not the effect, but 
it is no less true that it was one of the causes of the politi- 
cal divisions in this country. And, if, during the agitation of the 
present question, the renewal has, on one side, been opposed on 
party principles, let me ask if, on the other, it has not been advo- 
cated on similar principles? Where is the Macedonian phalanx, 
tlie opposition in Congress ? I believe, sir, I shall not incur the 
charge of presumptuous prophecy, when I predict we shall not 
pick up from its ranks one single straggler ! And if, on this oc- 
casion, ray wortliy friend from Georgia has gone over into the 
camp of the enemy, is it kind in him to look back upon his former 
friends, and rebuke them for the fidelity with which they adhere 
to their old principles ? 

I shall not stop to examine how far a representative is bound 
by the instructions of his constituents. That is a question be- 
tween the giver and receiver of the instructions. But I must be 
permitted to express my surprise at the pointed difference which 
has been made between the opinions and instructions of state 
legislatures, and the opinions and details of the deputations with. 
3 



26 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

which we have been surrounded from Philadelphia. Whilst the 
resolutions of those legislatures — known, legitimate, constitutional 
and deliberative bodies — have been thrown into the back ground, 
and their interference regarded as officious, these delegations 
from self-created societies, composed of nobody knows whom, 
have been received by the committee with the utmost complais- 
ance. Their communications have been treasured up with the 
greatest diligence. Never did the Delphic priests collect with 
more holy care the frantic oxpressions of the agitated Pythia, or 
expound them with more solemnity to tlie astonished Grecians, 
than has the committee gathered the opinions and testimonies of 
these deputies, and through the gentleman from Massachusetts, 
pompouslj' detailed them to the senate ! Philadelphia has her 
immediate representatives, capable of expressing her wishes upon 
the floor of the other house. If it be improper for states to ob- 
trude upon Congress their sentiments, it is much more highly so 
for the unauthorised deputies of fortuitous congregations. 

The first singular feature that attracts attention in this bill is 
(he new and unconstitutional veto which it establishes. The 
constitution has required only, that after bills have passed the 
house of representatives and the senate, they shall be presented 
to the president for his approval or rejection, and his determina- 
tion is to be made known in ten days. But this bill provides, 
that when all the constitutional sanctions are obtained, and when 
according to the usual routine of legislation it ought to be con- 
sidered as a law, it is to be submitted to a new branch of the 
legislature, consisting of the president and twenty-four directors 
of tlie bank of the United States, holding their sessions in Phil- 
adelphia, and if they please to approve it, why then it is to be- 
come a law 1 And three months (the term allowed by our 
law of May last, to one of the great belligerents for revoking 
his edicts, after the other shall have repealed his) are granted 
them to decide whether an act of Congress shall be the law of 
the land or not ! An act which is said to be indispensably ne- 
cessary to our salvation, and without the passage of which uni- 
versal distress and bankruptcy are to pervade the country. Re- 
member, sir, that the hoiiorable gentleman from Georgia has 
contended that this charter is no contract. Does it then become 
the representatives of the nation to leave the nation at the 
mercy of a corporation? Ought the impending calamities to be 
left to the hazard of a contingent remedy 7 

This vagrant power to erect a bank, after having wandered 
throughout the whole constitution in quest of some congenial 
spot to fasten upon, has been at length located by the gentleman 
from Georgia on that provision which authorizes Congress to 
lay and collect taxes, &c. In 1791, the power is referred to one 

{)art of the instrument; in 1811 to another. Sometimes it is al- 
edged to be deducible from the power to regulate commerce. 
Hard pressed here it disappears, and shows itself under the 
grant to coin money. The sagacious secretarv of the treasury 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 27 

in 1791 pursued the wisest course — he has tak-enshelterbehincl gen- 
eral, high soun(hng and imposing terms. He has declared, in the 
preambTe to the act estahlishing tlie bank, that it will be very 
conducive to the successful conducting o'i i\\Q naXiona\ finances ; 
will tend, to give facility to the obtaining of loans, and will be 
productive of considerable advantage to trade and industry m 
general. No allusion is made to the collection of taxes. What 
is the nature of this government? It is emphatically federal, 
vested with an aggregate of specified powers for general pur- 
poses, conceded by existing sovereignties, who have themselves 
retained what is not so conceded. It is said that there are cases 
in which it must acton implied powers. This is not controverted, 
but the implication must be necessary, and obviously flow from 
the enumerated power with which it is allied. The power to 
charter companies is not specified in the grant, and I contend is 
of a nature not transferrabte by mere implication. It is one of 
the most exalted attributer3 of sovereignty. In the exercise of 
this gigantic power ive have seen an East India company created, 
which has carried dismay, desolation, and death, throughout one 
of the largest portions of the habitable world. A company which 
is in itself, a sovereignty — which has subverted empires and set 
up new dynasties — and has not only made war, but war against 
its legitimate 'sovereign ! Under the influence of this power, we 
have seen arise a South Sea company, and a Mississippi com- 
pany, that distracted and convulsed all Europe, and menaced a 
total overthrow of all credit and confidence, and universal bank- 
ruptcy. Is it to be imagined that a power so vast would have 
been left by the wisdom of the constitution to doubtful inference? 
It has been alledged that there are many instances in the con 
stitution, where powers, in their nature incidental, and which 
would have necessarily been vested along with the principal, are 
nevertheless expressly enumerated ; and the power " to make 
rules and regulations for the government of the land and naval 
forces," which it is said is incidental to the power to raise armies 
and provide a navy, is given as an example. What does this 
prove? How extremely cautious the convention were to leave 
as httle as possible to implication. In all cases where incidental 
powers are acted upon, the principal and incidental ought to be 
congenial with each other, and partake of a common nature. 
The incidental power ought to be strictly subordinate and limited 
to the end proposed to be attained by the specified power. In 
other words, under the name of accomplishing one object which 
is specified, the power implied ought not to be made to embrace 
other objects, which are not specified in the constitution. If then 
you could establish a bank to collect and distribute the revenue, 
it ought to be expressly restricted to the purpose of such collec- 
tion or distribution. It is mockery, worse than usurpation, to 
establish it for a lawful object, and then to extend it to other ob- 
jects which are not lawful. In deducing the power to create 
corporations, such as I have described it, from the power to col- 



2S ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

lect taxes, the relation and condition oi" principal and incident 
are prostrated and destroyed. The accessory is exalted above 
the principal. As well might it be said that the great luminary 
of day is an accessory, a satelite to the humblest star that 
twinkles forth its feeble light in the firmament of heaven ! 

Suppose the constitution had been silent as to an individual 
department of this government, could you, under the power to 
lay and collect taxes, establish a judiciary? I presume not; 
but if you could derive the power by mere implication, could 
you vest it Avith any other authority than to enforce the collection 
of the revenue 1 A bank is made for the ostensible purpose of 
aiding in the collection of the revenue, and whilst it is engaged 
in this, the most inierior and subordinate of all its functicns, it is 
made to diil'use itself throughout society, and to influence all the 
great operations of credit, circulation and commerce. Like the 
Virginia justice, you tell the man whose turkey liad been stolen, 
that your books of precedents furnish no form for his case, but 
then you will grant him a precept to search for a cow, and when 
looking for that he may yiossiblj'' find his turkey ! You sny to 
this corporation, we cannot authorise you to discount^ — to emit 
paper — to regulate commerce, &c. No ! Our book has no pre- 
cedents of that kind. But then we can authorize you to collect 
the revenue, and, wdiilst occupied with that, you may do whatever 
else you please ! 

What is a corporation such as the bill contemplates? It is a 
splendid association of favored individuals, taken from the mass 
of society, and invested Avith exemptions and surrounded by 
immunities and privileges. The honorable gentleman from 
Massachusetts, TMr. Lloyd,) has said that the original law, 
establishing the oank, was justly liable to the objection of vesting 
in that institution an exclusive privilege, tlie faith of the govern- 
ment being pledged tliat no other bank should be authorized 
during its existence. This objection he supposes is obviated by 
the bill under consideration ; but all corporations enjoy exclusive 
privileges — that is, the corporators have privileges which no 
others possess ; if you create fifty corporations instead of one, 
you have onlj^ fifty privileged bodies instead of one. I contend 
that the States have the exclusive power to regulate contracts, 
to declare tlie capacities and incapacities to contract, and to 
provide as to the extent of responsibility of debtors to their 
creditors. If Congress have the power to erect an artificial 
bod}'-, and say it shall be endowed widi tlie attributes of an indi- 
vidual — if 3-0U can bestow on this object of your own creation 
tlie ability to contract, may you not, in contravention of state 
rights, confer upon slaves, infants and femraes covert the ability 
to contract? And if you have the power to say that an associa- 
tion of individuals shall be responsible for dieir debts only in a 
certain limited degree, what is to prevent an extension of a 
similar exemption to individuals? Where is the limitation upon 
this power to set up corporations? You establish one in the 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 29 

heart of a state, the basis of whose capital is money. You may 
erect others whose capital shall consist of land, slaves and per- 
sonal estates, and thus the whole property within the jurisdiction 
of a state might be absorbed by these political bodies. The 
existing bank contends that it is beyond the power of a state to 
tax it, and if this pretension be well founded, it is in the power 
of Congress, by chartering companies to dry up ail the sources 
of State revenue. Georgia has undertaken, it is true, to levy a 
tax on the branch within her jurisdiction, but this law, now 
under a course of htigation, is considered as invalid. The Uni- 
ted States own a great deal of land in the State of Ohio. Can this 
government, for the purpose of creating an abillity to purchase 
it, charter a company? Aliens are forbidden, I believe, in that 
State, to hold real estate — could you, in order to multiply pur- 
ciiasers, confer upon them the capacity to hold land, in derogation 
of the local law? I imagine this will hardly be msisted upon; 
and yet there exists a more obvious connexion between the un- 
doubted power, which is possessedby this government, to sell its 
land, and the means of executing that power by increasing the 
demand in the market, than there is between this bank and the 
collection of a tax. This government has the power to levy 
taxes-^to raise armies — provide a navy — make war — regulate 
commerce — coin money, &c., &c. It would not be difficult to 
show as intimate a connexion between a corporation, established 
for any purpose whatever, and some one or other of those great 
powers, as there is between the revenue and the bank of the 
United States. 

Let us inquire into the actual participation of this bank m the 
collection of the revenue. Prior to the passage of the act of 
1800, requiring the collectors of those ports of entry at which 
the principal bank, or any of its offices are situated, to deposit 
with them the custom-house bonds, it had not the smallest agen- 
cy in the collection of the duties. During almost one moiety of 
tlae period to which the existence of this institution v>'as limited, 
it was nowise instrumental in the collection of that revenue, to 
which it is now become indispensable ! The collection previous 
to ISOO, was made entirely by the collectors ; and even at 
present, where there is one port of entry, at which this bank is 
employed, there are eight or ten at v/hich the collection is made 
as it was before 1800. And, sir, what does this bank or its 
branches, where resort is had to it ? It does not adjust with the 
merchant tlie amount of duty, nor take his bond, nor, if the 
bond is not paid, coerce the payment, by distress or otherwise. 
In fact, it has no active agency whatever in the collection. Its 
operation is merely passive ; that is, if the obligor, after his bond 
is placed in the bank, discharges it, all is very well. Such is 
the mighty aid afforded by this tax-gatherer, without which the 
government cannot get along ! Again, it is not pretended that 
the very limited assistance which tliis institution does in truth 
3* 



30 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

render, extends to any other than a single species of tax, that is. 
duties. In the collection of the excise, the direct and other in- 
ternal taxes, no aid was derived from any bank. It is true, in 
the collection of those taxes, the former did not obtain the same 
indulgence which the merchant receives in paying duties. But 
what obliges Congress to give credit at all? Could it not de- 
mand prompt payment of the duties? And, in fact, does it not 
so demand, in many instances? Whether credit is given or not, 
is a matter merely of discretion. If it be a facility to mercantile 
operations, (as I presume it is,) it ought to be granted. But I 
deny the right to engraft upon it a bank, which you would not 
otlierwise have the power to erect. You cannot create the ne- 
cessity of a bank, and then plead that necessity for its establish- 
ment. In the administration of the finances, the bank acts simply 
as a payer and receiver. The Secretary of the Treasury has 
money in New- York and wants it in Charleston — the bank will 
furnish him with a check, or bill, to make the remittance, which 
any mercliant would do just as well. 

I will now proceed to show by fact, actual experience, not 
theoretic reasoning, but by the records themselves of the treasury, 
tliat the operations of that department may be as well conducted 
without as with this bank. The delusion has consisted in the use 
of certain high-sounding phrases, dexterously used on the occa- 
sion — "the collection of the revenue" — "the administration of the 
finance" — "the conducting of the fiscal affairs of tlie govern- 
ment," the usual language of the advocates of the bank, extort 
express assent, or awe into acquiescence, without inquiry or ex- 
amination into its necessity. About the commencement of this 
year, tliere appears, by the report of the Secretary of the Treasu- 
ry of the 7th of January, to have been a little upwards of two 
millions and four hundred thousand dollars in the treasury of the 
United States; and more than one-third of this whole sum was 
in the vaults of local banks. In several instances where oppor- 
tunities existed of selecting the bank, a preference has been 
given to the State bank, or at least a portion of the deposits has 
been made with it. In New-York, for example, there was de- 
posited with the Manhattan Bank !$ 188,670, although a branch 
bank is in that city. In this District, $115,080 were deposited 
with the Bank of Columbia, although here also is a branch bank, 
and yet the State banks are utterly unsafe to be trusted! If the 
money, after the bonds are collected, is thus placed with these 
banks, I presume there can be no dfficulty in placing the bonds 
themselves there, if they must be deposited with some bank for 
collection, which I deny. 

Again, one of the most important and complicated branches 
of the treasury department is the management of our landed 
system. The sales have, in some years, amounted to upwards 
of half a million of dollars — are generally made upon credit, 
and yet no bank whatever is made use of to facilitate the collec- 
tion. After it is made, the amount, in some instances, has been 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 31 

deposited with banks, and, according to the Secretary's report, 
which I have before adverted to, the amount so deposited was, 
in January, upwards of three hundred thousand dollars, not one 
cent of which was in the vaults of the Bank of the United States, 
or in any of its branches, but in the Bank of Pennsylvania, its 
branch at Pittsburgh, the Marietta Bank, and the Kentucky 
Bank Upon the point of responsibility, I cannot subscribe to the 
opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, if it is meant that the 
. ability to pay the amount of any deposits which the government 
may make, under any exigency, is greater than that of the State 
banks; that the accountability of a ramified institution, whose 
affairs are managed by a single head, responsible for all its 
members, is more simple than that of a number of independent 
and unconnected establishments, I shall not deny; but, with 
regard to safety, I am strongly inclined to think it is on the side 
of tlie local banks. The corruption or misconduct of the parent, 
or any of its branches, may bankrupt or destroy the whole sys- 
tem, and the loss of the government, in that event, will be of the 
deposits made with each; whereas, in the failure of one State 
bank, tlie loss will be confined to the deposit in the vault of that 
bank. It is said to have been a part of Burr's plan to seize on 
the branch bank at New-Orleans. At that period large sums, im- 
ported from La Vera Cruz, are alledged to have been deposited 
with it, and if the traitor had accomplished the design, the bank 
of the United States, if not actually bankrupt, might have been 
constrained to stop payment. 

It is urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Lloyd) 
that as this nation advances in commerce, wealth, and popula- 
tion, new energies will be unfolded, new wants and exigences 
will arise, aud hence he infers that powers must be implied from 
tlie constitution. But, sir, the question is, shall we stretch the 
instrument to embrace cases not fairly within its scope, or shall 
we resort to that remedy, by amendment, which the constitution 
prescribes ? 

Gentlemen contend that the construction which they give to 
the constitution has been acquiesced in by all parties and under 
all administrations ; and they rely particularly on an act which 
passed in 1S04, for extending a branch to New-Orleans ; and an- 
other act of 1S07, for punishing those who should forge or utter 
forged paper of the bank. With regard to the first law, passed 
no doubt upon the recommendation of the treasury department, 
I would remark, that it was the extension of a branch to a terri- 
tory over which Congress possesses the power of legislation al- 
most uncontrolled, and where, without any constitutional impedi- 
ment, charters of incorporation may be granted. As to the other 
act, it was passed no less for the benefit of the community than 
the bank — to protect the ignorant and unwary from counterfeit 
paper, purporting to have been emitted by the bank. When 
gentlemen are claiming the advantage supposed to be deducible 
from acquiescence, let me inquire what they would have had 



32 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

those to do, who believed the estabhshment of a bank an en-- 
croachment upon state rights '? Were they to have resisted, and 
hovif? By force? Upon the change of parties in 1800, it must 
be well'recollected that the greatest calamities were predicted as 
a consequence of that event. Intentions were ascribed to the 
new occupants of power, of violating the public faith, and pros- 
trating national credit. Under such circumstances, tliat they 
should act Avith great circumspection, was quite natural. They 
saw in lull operation a bank, chartered by a Congress who had 
as much right to judge of their constitutional powers as tlaeir 
successors. Had they revoked the law which gave it existence, 
the institution would, in all probability, continued to transact 
business notwithstanding. The judiciaiy would have been ap- 
pealed to, and from tiie known opinions and predilections of the 
judges then composing it, they would have pronounced the act 
of incorporation, as in the nature of a contract, beyond the re- 
pealing power of any succeeding legislature. And, sir, what a 
scene of confusion would such a state of things have presented 
— an act of Congress, which was law in the statute book, and a 
nullity on the judicial records ! was it not the wisest to wait the 
natural dissolution of the corporation rather than accelerate that 
event by a repealing law involving so many delicate considera- 
tions? 

When gentlemen attempt to carry this measure upon the. ground 
oi" acquiescence or precedent, do they forget that we are not in 
Westmxinster Hall? In courts of justice, the utility of iiniform 
decision exacts of the judge a contbrmity to the adjudication of 
his predecessor. In the interpretation and administration of the 
law, this practice is wise and proper, and without it, every thing 
depending upon the caprice of the judge, we should have no se- 
curity for our dearest rights. It is far otherwise when applied to 
the source of legislation. Here no rule exists but the constitu- 
tion, and to legislate upon the ground merely that our predeces- 
sors thought themselves authorized, under similar circumstances 
to legislate, is to sanctify error and perpetuate usurpation. But 
if we are to be subjected to the trammels of precedent, I claim 
on the other hand, the benefit of the restrictions under which the 
intelligent judge cautiously receives them. It is an estabhshed 
rule tliat to give to a previous adjudication any effect, the mind 
of the judge who pronounced it must have been awakened to the 
subject, and it must have been a deliberate opinion formed after 
full argument. In technical language, it must not have been sub 
silentio. Now the acts of 1804 and"l807, relied upon as pledges 
tor the rechartering this company, passed not only without any 
discussions whatever of the constitutional power of Congress to 
establish a bank, but, I venture to say, without a single member 
having had his attention drawn to this question. I had the hon- 
or of a seat in the senate wdien the latter law passed, probably 
voted for it, and I declare with the utmost sincerity that I never 
once thought of that point, and I appeal confidently to every 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 33 

honorable member who was then present, to say if that was not 
his situation. 

This doctrine of precedents, apphed to the legislature, appears 
to me to be fraught with the most mischievous consequences. 
The great advantage of our system of government over all oth- 
ers, is, that we have a written constitution, defining its limits, and 
prescribing its authorities ; and that, however, for a time, faction 
may con\ailse the nation, and passion and party prejudice sway 
its functionaries, the season of reflection will recur, when calmly 
retracing their deeds, all aberrations from fundamental principle 
will be corrected. But once substitute jJT'aciice for principle — 
the exposition of the constitution for the text of the constitution, 
and in vain shall we look for the instrument in the instrument it- 
self! It will be as diffused and intangible as the pretended con- 
stitution of England : — and must be sought for in tlie statute 
book, in tiie fugitive journals of Congress, and in reports of the 
secretary of the treasury ! What would be our condition if we 
were to take the interpretations given to that sacred book, which 
is, or ought to be, the criterion of our faith, for the book itseh"? 
We should find the Holy Bible buried beneath the interpreta- 
tions, glosses, and comments of councils, synods, and learned di- 
vines, which have produced swarms of intolerant and furious 
sects, partaking less of the mildness and meekness of their origin 
than of a vindictive spirit of hostihty towards each other ! They 
ought to afford us a solemn warning to make that constitution 
which we have sworn to support, our invariable guide. 

I conceive, then, sir, that we were not empowered by the con- 
stitution, nor bound by any practice under it, to renew the char- 
ter of this bank, and I might here rest the argument. But as 
there are strong objections to the renewal on the score of expe- 
diency, and as the distresses which will attend the dissolution of 
the bank, have been greatly exaggerated, I will ask for your in- 
dulgence for a few moments longer. That some temporary in- 
convenience will arise, I shall not deny ; but most groundlesslj^ 
have the recent failures in New-York been attributed to the dis- 
continuance of this bank. As well might you ascribe to that 
CAuse the failures of Amsterdam and Hamburg, of London and 
Liverpool. The embarrassments of commerce — the sequestra- 
tions in France — the Danish captures — in fine, the belligerent 
edicts, are the obvious sources of these failures. Their immedi- 
ate cause in the return of bills upon London, drawn upon the 
faith of unproductive or unprofitable shipments. Yes, sir, the 
protests of the notaries of London,. not those of New York, have 
occasioned these bankruptcies. 

The power of a nation is said, to consist in the sAvord and the 
purse. Perhaps at last all power is resolvable into, that of the 
purse, for with it you may command almost every thing else. 
The specie circulation of the United States is estimated by some 
calculators at ten millions of dollars, and if it be no more, one 
moiety is in the vaults of this bank. May not the time arrive 



34 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

when the concentration of such a vast portion of the circulating 
medium of the country in the hands of any corporation, will be 
dangerous to our liberties ? By whom is this immense power 
wielded ? By a body, who, in derogation of the great principle 
of all our institutions, responsibility to the people, is amenable 
only to a few stockholders, and they chiefly foreigners. Suppose 
an attempt to subvert this government — would not the traitor 
first aim by force or corruption to acquire the treasure of this 
company ? Look at it in another aspect. Seven-tenths of its capi- 
tal are in the hands of foreigners, and these foreigners chiefly 
English subjects. We are possibly on the eve of a rupture with 
tliat nation. Should such an event occur, do you apprehend that 
the English premier would experience any difficulty in obtaining 
the entire control of this institution? Republics, above all other 
governments, ought most seriously to guard against foreign in- 
fluence. All history proves that the internal dissentions excited 
by foreign intrigue, have produced the downfall of almost every 
free government that has hitherto existed; and yet, gentlemen 
contend that we are benefitted by the possession of this foreign 
capital ! If Ave could have its use, without its attending abuse, 
I should be gratified also. But it is in vain to expect the one 
without the other. Wealth is power, and, under whatsoever form 
it exists, its proprietor, whether he lives on this or the other side 
of the Atlantic, will have a proportionate influence. It is argued 
that our possession of this English capital gives us a great influ- 
ence over the British government. If this reasoning be sound, 
we had better revoke the interdiction as to aliens holding land, 
and invite foreigners to engross the whole property, real and 
personal, of the country. We had better at once exchange the 
condition of independent proprietors for that of stewards. We 
should then be able to govern foreign nations, according to the 
reasoning of the gentlemen on the other side. But let us put 
aside this theory, and appeal to the decisions of experience. Go 
to the other side of the Atlantic, and see what has been achieved 
for us there by Englishmen holding seven-tenths of the capital 
of tliis bank. Has it released from galling and ignominious bon- 
dage one solitary American seaman bleeding under British op- 
pression ? Did it prevent the unmanly attack upon the Chesa- 
peake ? Did it arrest the promulgation, or has it abrogated the 
orders in council — those orders which have given birth to a new 
era in commerce ? In spite of all its boasted effect, are not the 
two nations brought to the very brink of war ? Are we quite 
sure, that on this side of the water, it has had no effect favorable 
to British interests? It has often been stated, and although I do 
not know that it is susceptible of strict proof, I believe it to be a 
fact, tliat this bank exercised its influence in support of Jay's 
treaty — and may it not have contributed to blunt the public sen- 
timent, or paralyze the eflbrts of this nation against British ag- 
gression. 
The duke of Northumberland is said to be the most consider- 



INCREASE OP THE NAVY. 35 

able stockholder in the bank of the United States. A late lord 
chancellor of England, besides other noblemen, was a large 
stockholder. Suppose the prince of Essling, the duke of Cadore, 
and other French dignitaries owned seven eighths of the 
capital of this bank, should we witness the same exertions (I al- 
lude not to any made in the senate) to re-charter it ? So far from 
it, would not the danger of French influence be resounded 
tliroughout the nation ? 

I shall therefore give my most hearty assent to the motion for 
striking out the first section of the bill. 



INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

Speech on the Navy Bill, delivered in the House of Representa- 
tives, January 22, 1812. 

Mr.Clay(the speaker) rose to present his viewsonthebill before 
the committee. He said, as he did not precisely agree in opinion 
with any gentleman who had spoken, he sliould take the liberty 
of detaining the committee a few moments, while he offered to 
their attention some observations. He was highly gratified with 
the temper and ability with which the discussion had hitherto 
been conducted. It was honorable to the house, and, he trusted, 
would continue to be manifested on many future occasions. 

On this interesting topic a diversity of opinion has existed al- 
most ever since the adoption of the present government. On the 
one hand, there appeared to him to have been attempts made to 
precipitate the nation into all the evils of naval extravagance, 
which had been productive of so much mischief in other coun- 
tries ; and on the otlier, strongly feeling this mischief, there has 
existed an um-easonable prejudice against providing such a com- 
petent naval protection for our commercial and maritime rights 
as is demanded by their importance, and as the increased re- 
sources of the country amply justify. 

The attention of Congress has been invited to this subject by 
the president, in his message delivered at the opening of the 
session. Indeed, had it been wholly neglected by the chief 
magistrate, from the critical situation of the country, and the 
nature of the rights proposed to be vindicated, it must have 
pressed itself upon our attention. But, said Mr. Clay, the presi- 
dent in his message observes : " Your attention will, of course, 
be drawn to such provisions on the subject of our naval force as 
may be required for the service to which it is best adapted. I 
submit to Congress the seasonableness also of an authority to 
augment the stock of such materials as are imperishable in their 
nature or may not at once be attainable ?" The president, by 
this recommendation, clearly intimates an opinion that the 
naval force of this country is capable of producing effect; and the 



36 INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

propriety of laying up imperishable materials, was no doubt sug- 
gested lor the purpose of making additions to the navy, as con- 
venience and exigences might direct. 

It a})peared to Mr. C. a little extraordinary that so much, as it 
seemed to him, imreasonable jealousy should exist against tlie 
naval establishment. If, said he, we look back to the period of 
the formation of the constitution, it will be found that no such 
jealousy was then excited. In placing the physical force of the 
nation at the disposal of Congress, the convention manifested 
much greater apprehension of abuse in the power given to raise 
arm.ies, than in tliat to provide a navy. In reference to the navy, 
Congress is put under no restrictions ; but with respect to the 
army — that description of force which has been so often employ- 
ed to subvert the liberties of mankind — they are subjected to 
limitations designed to prevent the abuse of this dangerous 
power. But it was not his intention to detain the committtee by 
a discussion on the comparative utility and safety of these two 
kinds of force. He would, however, be indulged in saying, that 
he thought gentlemen had wholly failed in maintaining the posi- 
tion they had assumed, that the fall of maratime powers was at- 
tributable to their navies. Thsy have told you, indeed, that 
Carthage, Genoa, Venice, and other nations, had navies, and 
notwithstanding vrere finally destroyed. But have they shown 
by a, train of argument, that their overthrow was, in any degree, 
attributable to their maratime greatness ? Have they attempted 
even to show that there exists in the nature of this power a ne- 
cessary tendency to destroy the nation using it ? Assertion is 
Rllbstiruted for argument , inferences not authorised by historical 
facts are arbitrarily drawn ; things wholly unconnected with 
each other are associated together — a very logical mode of rea- 
soning it must be admitted ! In the same way he couid demon- 
strate how idle and absurd our attachments are to freedom itself. 
He might say, for example, that Greece and Rome had forms of 
free government, and that they no longer exist; and, deducing 
tlieir fall to their devotion to liberty, the conchision, in favor of 
despotism, would very satisfactorily follow ! He demanded what 
there is in the nature and construction of maritime power to ex- 
cite the fears that have been indulged '? Do gentlemen really 
apprehend that a body of seamen will abandon their proper ele- 
ment, and, placing themselves under an aspiring chief! will erect 
a tlirone to his ambition '? Will they deign to listen to the voice 
of history, and learn how chimerical are their apprehensions 7 

But the source of alarm is in ourselves. Gentlemen fear that 
if we provide a marine it will produce collisions Avith foreign 
nations — plunge us into war, and ultimately overturn the consti- 
tution of the country. Sir, if you wish to avoid foreign collision 
you had better abandon the ocean — surrender all your com- 
merce; give up all your prosperity. It is the thing protected, 
not the instrument of protection, that involves you in war. 
Commerce engenders collision, collision war, and warj the argu- 



INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 37 

merit supposes, leads to despotism. Would the councils of that 
statesman be deemed wise who would recommend that the nation 
should be unarmed — that the art of war, the martial spirit, and 
martial exercises, should be prohibited — who should declare in 
the language of Othello that the nation must bid farewell to the 
neighing steed, and the shrill trump, the spirit stirring drum, the 
ear piercing fife, and all the pride, pomp and circumstance of 
glorious war — and that the great body of the people should be 
taught that the national happiness was to be found in perpetual 
peace alone ? No, sir. And yet every argument in favor of 
a power of protection on land applies, in some degree, to a power 
of protection on the sea. Undoubtedly a commerce void of naval 
protection is more exposed to rapacity than a guarded commerce; 
and if we wish to invite the continuance of tlie old or the enact- 
ment of new edicts, let us refrain ffoni all exertion upon that 
element where we must operate, and where, in the end, they 
must be resisted. 

For his part (Mr. C. said) he did not allow himself to be 
alarmed by those apprehensions of maritime power which ap- 
peared to agitate other gentlemen. In the nature of our govern- 
ment he beheld abundant security against abuse. He would be 
unwilling to tax the land to support the rights of the sea, and 
was for drawing from the sea itseli .the resources with which its 
violated freedom should at all times be vindicated. Wliilst this 
principle is adhered to, there will be no danger of running into the 
folly and extravagance which so much alarjns gentlemen ; and 
whenever it is abandoned — whenever Congress shall lay burth- 
ensome taxes to augment the navy beyond what may be author- 
ized by the increase of wealth, and demanded by the exigences 
of the country, the people will interpose, and, removing their un- 
worthy representatives, apply the appropriate corrective. Mr. 
C then could not see any just ground of dread in the nature of 
naval power. It was on the contrary free from the evils attend- 
ant upon standing armies. And the genius of our institutions — 
the great representative principle, in the practical enjoyment of 
which we are so eminently distinguished, afforded the best guar- 
antee against the ambition and wasteful extravagance of govern- 
ment. What maritime strength is it expedient to provide for the 
United States ? In considering this subject, three different de- 
grees of naval power present themselves. In the first place, such 
a force as would be capable of contending with that which c.ny 
other nation is able to bring on the ocean — a force that, boldly 
scouring every sea, would challenge to combat the fleets of other 
powers however great. He admitted it was impossible at this 
time, perhaps it never would be desirable, for this country to 
establish so extensive a navy. Indeed he should consider it a8 
madness in the extreme in this government to attempt to provide 
a navy able to cope with the fleets of Great Britain, wherever 
they might be met. 
4 



38 ON THE INCREASE OP THE NAVY. 

The next species of naval power to which he would advert is 
that which, without adventuring into distant seas, and keeping ge- 
nerally in our own harbors, and on our coasts, would be competent 
to beat off any squadron which might be attempted to be perma- 
nently stationed in our waters. His friends from South Carolina 
(Messrs. Cheeves and Lowndes) had satisfactorily shown that, to 
effect this object, a force equivalent only to one-third of that which 
tlie maintenance of such a squadron must require, would be suffi- 
cient — that if, for example, England should determine to station 
permanently upon our coast a squadron of twelve ships of the line, 
it would require for this service thirtj^-six ships of the line, one- 
third in port repairing, one-third on the passage, and one-third 
on the station. But that is a force which it has been shown that 
even England, with her boasted navy, could not spare for the 
American service, whilst she is engaged in the present contest 
Mr. C. said that he was desirous of seeing such a force as he had 
described, that is, twelve ships of the line, and fifteen or twenty 
frigates, provided for the United States; but he admitted that 
it was unattainable in the present situation of the finances of 
the country. He contended, however, that it Avas such as Con- 
gress ought to set about providing, and he hoped in less than ten 
years to see it actually established. He was far from surveying 
the vast maritime power of Great Britain vrith the desponding 
eye with which otlicr gentlemen beheld it. He could not allow 
himself to be discouraged at a prospect of even her thousand 
ships. This country only required resolution, and a proper 
exertion of its immense resources, to command respect, and to 
vindicate every essential right When we consider our remote- 
ness from Europe, the expense, difficulty and perils to whicli any 
squadron would be exposed while stationed off our coasts, he 
entertained no doubt that the force to which he referred would 
ensure the command of our own seas. Such a force would avail 
itself of our extensive sea-board and numerous harbors, every 
where affording asylums, to which it could safely retire from a 
superior fleet, or from which it could issue for the purpose of an- 
noyance. To the opinion of his colleague. (Mr. McKee,) who 
appeared to think that it was in vain lor us to make any struggle 
on the ocean, he would oppose the sentiments of his distinguished 
connexion, the heroic Daviess, who fell in the battle of Tippeca- 
noe. [Here Mr. C. read certain parts of a work written by Col. 
Daviess, in which the author attempts to show, that as the ag- 
gressions upon ovtr commerce were not committed by fleets, but 
by single vessels, they could in the same manner be best retaU- 
ated: that the torce of about twenty or thirty frigates would be 
capable of inflicting great injury on English commerce by pick- 
ing up stragglers, cutting off convoys, and seizing upon every 
moment of supineness ; and that such a force, witli our sea-ports 
and harbors well fortified, and aided by privateers, would be 
really formidable, and would annoy the British navy and com- 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 39 

merce, just as the French army was assailed in Egypt, the 
Persian army in Scythia, and the Roman army in Parthia.] 

The third description of force, worthy of consideration, is that 
which would be able to prevent any single vessel, of whatever 
metal, from endangering our whole coasting trade, blocking up 
our harbors, and laying under contribution our cities — a tbrce 
competent to punish the insolence of the commander of any 
single ship, and to preserve in our own jurisdiction the inviola- 
bility of our peace and onr laws. A force of this kind is entirely 
within the compass of our means, at this lime. Is there a re- 
flecting man in the nation who Avould not charge Congress with 
a culpable neglect of its duty, if, for the want of such a force, a 
single ship were to bombard one of our cities ! AYould not 
every honorable member of the committee inflict on himself the 
bitterest reproaches, if, by failing to malsc an inconsiderable ad- 
dition to our little gallant navy, a single British vessel should 
place New- York under contribution ! Yes, sir, when the city is 
in flames, its wretched inhabitants begin to repent of their neg- 
lect, in not providing engines and water buckets. 11", said Mr. 
C, we are not able to meet the wolves of the forest, shall we put 
up with the barking impudence of every petty cur that trips 
across our way? Because we cannot guard against every pos- 
sible danger, shall we provide against none? He hoped not. 
He had hardly expected that the instructing but humiliating 
lesson was so soon to be forgotten which was taught us in the 
murder of Pierce — the attack on the Chesapeake — and the insult 
offered in the very harbor of Charleston, which the brave old 
fellow who commanded the fort in vain endeavored to chastise. 
It was a rule with Mr. C, when acting either in a public or pri- 
vate character, to attempt nothing more than what there existed 
a prospect of accomplishing. He was therefore not in favor of 
entering into any mad projects on this subject, but for delibe- 
rately and resolutely pursuing what he believed to be within the 
power of government. Gentlemen refer to the period of 1798, 
and we are remanded of the principles maintained by the oppo- 
sition at that time. He had no doubt of the correctness of that 
opposition. The naval schemes of that day were premature, not 
warranted by the resources of the country, and were contempla- 
ted for an unnecessary war into which the nation was about to 
be plunged. He always admired and approved the zeal and 
ability with which that opposition was conducted by the distin- 
guished gentleman now at the head of the treasury. But the 
state of things is totally altered. What was foHy in 179S may be 
wisdom now. At that time we had a revenue only of about six 
millions. Our revenue now, upon a supposition that commerce is 
restored, is about sixteen millions. The population of the country 
too is greatly increased, nearly doubled, and the wealth of the 
nation is perhaps tripled. Whilst our ability to construct a navy 
is thus enhanced, the necessary maritime protection is propor- 
tionably augmented. Independent of the extension of our com- 



40 ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

merce, since the year 179S we have had an addition of more 
than five hundred miles to our coast, from the bay of Perdido to 
the mouth of tlie Sabine — a weak and defenceless accession, 
requiring, more than any other part of our maritime frontier, the 
protecting arm oi* government. 

The groundless imputation, that those who were friendly to a 
navy were espousing a principle inimical to freedom, should not 
terrif)' him. He was not ashamed when in such company as 
the illustrious author of the notes on Virginia, whose opinion on 
the subject of a navy, contained in that work, contributed to the 
formation of his own. But the principle of a navy, Mr. C. eon- 
tended, was no longer open to controversy. It was decided 
when Mr. Jeffersoa came into power. With all the prejudices 
against a navy which are alledged by some to have been then 
brought into the administration — with many honest prejudices, 
he admitted — the rash attempt was not made to destroy the es- 
tablishment. It was reduced to only what was supposed to be 
within the financial capacity of the country. If, ten years ago, 
when all those prejudices were to be combatted, even in time 
of peace, it was deemed proper, by the then administration, to 
retain in service ten frigates, he put it to the candor of gentlemen 
to say, if now, vrhen we are on the eve of a war, and taking 
into view the actual growth of the country, and the acquisatioii 
of our coast on the Gulf of Mexico, we ought not to add to th?, 
establishment. 

Mr. C. said he had hitherto alluded more particularly to the 
exposed situation of certain parts of the Atlantic frontier. 
Whilst he felt the deepest solicitude for the safety of New- York, 
and other cities on the coast, he would be pardoned by the com- 
mittee for referring to the interests of that section of the union 
from Avhich he came. If, said he, there be a point more than any 
other in the United States, demanding the aid of naval protec- 
tion, that point is the mouth of the Mississippi. What is the 
population of the western country, dependant on this single out- 
let for its surplus productions 1 Kentucky, according to the last 
enumeration, has 406,511, Tennessee 261,727, and Ohio 230,760. 
And when the pojmlation of the western parts of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania, and the territories which are drained by the Mis- 
sisippi or its v/aters, is added, it will form an aggregate equal to 
about one-fifth of the whole population of the United States, 
resting all their commercial hopes upon this solitary vent ! The 
bulky articles of which their surplus productions consist, can be 
transported no other Avay. They will not bear the expense of a 
carriage up the Ohio and Tennessee, and across the mountains, 
and the circuitous voyage of the lakes is out of the question. 
Whilst most other states have the option of numerous outlets, so 
that if one be closed resort can be had to others, this vast popula- 
tion has no alternative. Close the mouth of the Mississippi and 
their export trade is annihilated. He called the attention of his 
western friends, especially his worthy Kentucky friends (from 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 41 

whom he felt himself with regret constrained to differ on this oc- 
casion) to the state of the public feeling in that quarter, whilst 
the navigation of the Mississippi was withheld by Spain ; and to 
the still more recent period when the right of depot was violated. 
The whole country was in commotion, and, at the nod of govern- 
ment, would have fallen on Baton Rouge and New-Orleans, and 
punished the treachery of a perfidious government. Abandon all 
idea of protecting, by maritime force, the mouth of the Mississip- 
pi, and we shall have the recurrence of many similar scenes. 
We shall hold the inestimable right of the navigation of that 
river by the most precarious tenure. The whole commerce of 
the Mississippi — a commerce that is destined to be the richest that 
was ever borne by a single stream — is placed at the mercy of a 
single ship lying off the Balize ! Again : the convulsions of the 
new world, still more perhaps than those of Europe, challenge 
our attention. Whether the ancient dynasty of Spain is still to 
be upheld or subverted, is extremely uncertain, if the bonds con- 
necting the parent country with her colonies are not forever 
broken. What is to become of Cuba ? Will it assert independ- 
ence or remain the province of some European power ? In 
either case the whole trade of the western country, which must 
pass almost within gun-shot of the Moro Castle, is exposed to 
danger. It was not however of Cuba he was afraid. He wished 
her independent. But suppose England gets possession of that 
valuable island. With Cuba on the south and Halifax on the 
north — and the consequent means of favoring or annoying com- 
merce of particular sections of the country — he asked if the most 
sanguine amongst us would not tremble for the integrity of the 
Union? If, along with Cuba, Great Britain should acquire East 
Florida, she will have the absolute command of the Gulf of 
Mexico. Can gentlemen, particularly gentlemen from the wes- 
tern country, contemplate such possible, nay probable, events, 
without desiring to see at least the commencement of such a 
naval establishment as would effectually protect the Mississippi ? 
He intreated them to turn their attention to the defenceless situ- 
ation of the Orleans Territory, and to the nature of its popula- 
tion. It is known that whilst under the Spanish government 
they experienced the benefit of naval security. Satisfy them 
that under the government of the United States, they will enjoy 
less protection, and you disclose the most fatal secret. 

The general government receives annually for the public 
lands, about i$600.000. One of the sources whence the western 
people raise this sum, is the exportation of tlie surplus produc- 
tions of that country. Shut up the Mississippi, and this source 
is in a great measure dried up. But suppose this government to 
look upon the occlusion of the Mississippi without making an 
effort on that element, where alone it could be made successfully, 
to remove the blockading force, and at the same time to be vigor- 
ously pressing payment for the pubUc lands ; he shuddered at 
4* 



42 ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

the consequences. Deep rooted as he knew the affections of 
the western people to be to the Union, (and he woukl not admit 
their patriotism to be surpassed by any other quarter of the 
country) if such a state of things were to last any considerable 
time, he should seriously apprehend a withdrawal of their confi- 
, dence. Nor, sir, could we derive any apology for the failure to 
afford this protection from the want of the materials for naval 
architecture. On the contrary, all the articles entering into the 
construction of a Jiavy, iron, hemp, timber, pitch, abound in the 
greatest quantities on the waters of the Mississippi. Kentucky 
alone, he had no doubt, raised hemp enough the last year for 
the whole consumption of the United States. 

If, as he conceived, gentlemen had been unsuccessful in show- 
ing that the downfal of maritime nations was ascribable to their 
navies, they have been more fortunate in showing by the in- 
stances to which they had referred, that without a marine no 
foreign commerce could exist to any extent. It is the appropri- 
ate — the natural (if the term may be allowed) connexion of for- 
eign commerce. The shepherd and his faithful dog are not more 
necessary to guard the flocks that browze and gambol on thi; 
neighboring mountain. He considered the prosperity of foreign 
commerce indissolubly allied to marine power. Neglect to pro- 
vide the one and you must abandon the other. Suppose the ex- 
pected war with England is commenced, you enter and subjugate 
Canada, and she still refuses to do you justice — what other pos- 
sible mode will remain to operate on the enemy but upon that 
element where alone you can then come in contact with him ? 
And if you do not prepare to protect there your own commerce 
and to assail his, will he not sweep from the ocean every vessel 
bearing your fiag, and destroy even the coasting trade ? But 
from the arguments of gentlemen it would seem to be questioned 
if foreign commerce is worth the kind of protection insisted upon. 
What is this foreign commerce that has suddenly become so in- 
considerable ? It has, with very trifling aid from other sources, 
defrayed the expenses of government ever since the adoption of 
the present constitution — maintained an expensive and successful 
war with the Indians — a war with the Barbary powers — a quasi 
war with France — sustained the charges of suppressing two in- 
surrections, and extinguishing upwards of forty-six millions of the 
public debt. In revenue it has, since the year 1789, yielded one 
hundred and ninety-one millions of dollars. During the first four 
years after tlie commencement of the present government, the 
revenue averaged only about two millions annually — during a 
subsequent period of four years it rose to an average of fifteen 
millions annually, or became equivalent to a capital of two hun- 
dred and fifty millions of dollars, at an interest of six per centum 
per annum. And if our commerce is re-established, it will, in the 
course of time, nett a sum for which we are scarcely furnished 
with fii^ures in arithmetic. Taking the average of the last nine 
years (comprehending of course the season of the embargo) our 



ON THE INCREASE OP THE NAVY. 43 

exports average upwards of thirty-seven millions of dollars, 
which is equivalent to a capital of more than six himdred millions 
of dollars, at six per centum interest, all of which must be lost in 
the event of a destruction of foreign commerce. In the abandon- 
ment of that commerce is also involved the sacrifice of our brave 
tars, who have engaged in the pursuit from which they derive 
subsistence and support, under the confidence that government 
would afford them that just protection whichis due to all. Theywili 
be driven into foreign employment, for it is vain to expect that 
they will renounce their habits of life. 

The spirit of commercial enterprize so strongly depicted by 
the gentleman from New-York (Mr. Mitchel) is ditiused through- 
out the country. It is a passion as unconquerable as any with 
which nature has endowed us. You may attempt indeed to reg- 
ulate, but you cannot destroy it. It exhibits itself as well on the 
waters of the western country as on the waters and shores of the 
Atlantic. Mr. C. had heard of a vessel built at Pittsburgh having 
crossed the Atlantic and entered a European port (he believed 
that of Leghorn.) The master of the vessel laid his papers be- 
fore the proper custom officer, which, of course, stated the place 
of her departure. The officer boldly denied the existence of any 
such American port as Pittsburgh, and threatened a seizure of 
the vessel as being furnished with forged papers. The aft'righted 
master procured a map of the United States, and, pointing out 
the Gulf of Mexico, took the officer to the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi — traced the course of the Mississippi more than a thousand 
miles to the mouth of the Ohio ; and conducting him still a 
thousand miles higher, to the junction of the Alleghany and Mo- 
nongahela — there, he exclaimed, stands Pittsburgh, the port 
from which I sailed ! The custom-house officer, prior to the 
production of this evidence, would have as soon believed that the 
vessel had performed a voyage from the moon. 

In delivering the sentiments he had expressed, Mr. C. consid- 
ered himself as conforming to a sacred constitutional duty. 
"When the power to provide a navy was confided to Congress, it 
must have been the intention of the convention to submit only to 
tlie discretion of that body the period when that power should be 
exercised. That period had, in his opinion, arrived, at least for 
making a respectable beginning. And whilst he thus discharg- 
ed what he conceived to be his duty, he derived great pleasure 
from the reflection that he was supporting a measure calculated 
to impart additional strength to our happy Union. Diversified as 
are the interests of its various parts, how admirably do they har- 
monize and blend together ! We have only to make a proper 
use of the bounties spread before us, to render us prosperous and 
powerful. Such a navy as he had contended for, will form a 
new bond of connexion between the states concentrating their 
hopes, their interests, and their aflections. 



44 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

Speech on the New Army Bill, delivered in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, January, 1813 

Mr. Clay (the speaker,) said he was gratified yesterday by the 
recommitment of this bill to a committee of the whole house, 
from two considerations ; one, since it atibrded him a slight re- 
laxation from a most fatiguing situation; and the other, because 
it furnished him with an opportunity of presenting to the com- 
mittee, his sentiments upon the important topics which had been 
mingled in the debate. He regretted, however, that the neces-' 
sity under which the chairman had been placed of putting the 
question,* precluded the opportunity he had wished to enjoy, of 
rendering more acceptable to the committee any thing he might 
have to offer on the interesting points, on which it was his duty 
to touch. Unprepared, however, as he was to speak on this day, 
of which he was the more sensible, from the ill state of his health, 
he would solicit the attention of the committee for a few mo- 
ments. 

I was a little astonished, I confess, said Mr. C, when I found 
this bill permitted to pass silently through the committee of the 
whole, ar.d, not selected, until the moment when the question was 
about to be put for its third reading, as the subject on which gen- 
tlemen in the opposition chose to lay before the House their views 
of the interesting attitude in which the nation stands. It did ap- 
pear to me, that the Loan bill, which will soon come before us, 
would have atibrded a much more proper occasion, it being more 
essential, as providing the ways and means for the prosecution 
of the war. But the gentlemen had the right of selection, and 
having exercised it, no matter how improperly, I am gratified, 
whatever I may think of the character of some part ot the de- 
bate, at the latitude in which for once, they have been indulged. 
I claim only, in return, of gentlemen on the other side of the 
House, and of the committee, a like indulgence in expressing my 
sentiments, with the same unrestrained freedom. Perhaps in the 
course of the remarks which I may feel myself called upon to 
make, gentlemen may apprehend that they assume too harsh an 
aspect; but I have only now to say, that I shall speak of parties, 
measures, and things, as they strike my moral sense, protesting 
against the imputation of any intention, on my part; to wound 
tlic feelings of any gentlemen. 

Considering the situation in which this country is now placed 
— a state of actual war with one of the most powerful nations on 
tlie earth — it may not be useless to take a view of the past, and 
of the various parties which have at diflcrent times appeared in 

*The chairman had risen to put the question, which would have cut Mr. C. off 
feom the opportuuily of speaking, by carrying the bill to the Aoms^.— Editor. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 45 

tfiis country, and to attend to the manner by wWch we have been 
driven from a peaceful posture, to our present warUke attitude. 
Such an inquiry may assist in guiding us to that result, an hono- 
«-able peace, which must be the sincere desire of every friend to 
America. The course of that opposition, by which the adminis- 
tration of the government had been unremittingly impeded for 
the last twelve years, was singular, and, I believe, unexampled 
in the history of any country. It has been alike the duty and the 
interest of the administration to preserve peace. It was their 
duty, because it is necessary to the growth of an infant people, 
to their genius, and to their habits. It was their interest, because 
a change of the condition of the nation brings along with it a 
danger of the loss of the afi'ections of the people. The adminis- 
tration has not been forgetful of these solemn obligations. No 
art has been left unassayed ; no experiment, promising a favora- 
ble result, left untried, to maintain the peaceful relations of the 
country. When, some six or seven years ago, the ati'airs of the 
nation assumed a threatening aspect, a partial non-importation 
was adopted. As they grew more alarming, an embargo was 
imposed. It would have accomplished its purpose, but it was 
sacrificed upon the altar of conciliation. Vain and fruitless at- 
tempt to propitiate ! Then came along non-intercourse ; and a 
general non-importation followed in the train. In the mean time, 
any indications of a return to the public law and the path of jus- 
tice, on the part of either belligerent, are seized upon with avidi- 
tj'' by the administration — the arrangement with Mr. Erskine is 
concluded. It is first applauded, and then censured by the op- 
position. No matter with Avhat unfeigned sincerity, with what 
real etlbrt administration cultivates peace, the opposition insist 
that it alone is culpable for every breach that is made between 
the two countries. Because the President thought proper, in ac- 
cepting the proffered reparation for the attack on a national ves- 
sel, to intimate that it would have better comported with tlie jus- 
tice of the king, (and who does not think so?) to punish the 
ofi'ending officer, the opposition, entering into the royal feelings, 
sees in that imaginary insult, abundant cause for rejecting Mr. 
Erskine's arrangement. On another occasion, you cannot have 
forgotten the hypocritical ingenuity which they displayed, to di- 
vest Mr. Jackson's correspondence of a premeditated insult to 
this country. If gentlemen would only reserve for their own 
government, half the sensibility which is indulged for that of 
Great Britain, they would find much less to condemn. Restric- 
tion after restriction has been tried — negotiation has been resort- 
ed to, until further negotiation would have been disgraceful. 
Whilst these peaceful experiments are undergoing a trial, what 
is the conduct of the opposition ? They are the champions of 
war— the proud — the spirited — the sole repository of the nation's 
honor— the men of exclusive vigor and energy. The adminis- 
tration, on the contrary, is weak, feeble, and pusillanimous — " in- 
capable of being kicked into a war." The maxim, " not a cent 



46 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

for tribute, millions for defence," is loudly proclaimed. Is the 
administration for negotiation? The opposition is tired, sick, 
disgusted with negotiation. They want to draw the sword and 
avenge the nation's wrongs. When, however, foreign nations, 
perhaps, emboldened by the very opposition here made, refuse 
to listen to the amicable appeals, which have been repeated and 
reiterated by the administration, to their justice and to their in- 
terests — when, in fact, war with one of them has become identi- 
fied with our independence and our sovereignty, and to abstain 
f. oni it was no longer possible, behold the opposhion veering 
round and becoming the friends of peace and commerce. They 
tell you of the calamities of war — its tragical events, the squan- 
dering away of your resources — the waste of the public treasure, 
and the spilling of innocent blood. '' Gorgons, hydras and chi- 
meras dire." They tell you that honor is an illusion! Now we 
see them exhibiting the terrific forms of the roaring king of the 
forest. Now the meekness and humility of the lamb ! They are 
for war and no restrictions, when the administration is for peace. 
They are for peace and restrictions, when the administration is 
for war. You find them, sir, tacking with every gale, displaying 
the colors of every party, and of all nations, steady only in one 
unalterable purpose, to steer, if possible, into the haven of power. 
During all this time, the parasites of opposition do not fail by 
cunning sarcasm or sly inuendo to throw out the idea of French 
influence, which is known to be false, which ought to be met in 
one manner only, and that is by the lie direct. The administra- 
tion of this country devoted to foreign influence ! The adminis- 
tration of this country subservient to France ! Great God ! what 
a charge ! how is it so influenced ? By what ligament, on what 
basis, on what possible foundation does it rest ? Is it similarity 
of languiige '? No ! we speak different tongues, we speak the 
English language. On the resemblance of our laws? No ! the 
Bources of our jurisprudence spring from another and a different 
country. On commercial intercourse? No! we have compara- 
tively none with France. Is it from the correspondence in the 
genius of the two governments ? No ! here alone is the liberty 
of man secure from the inexorable despotism, which everywhere 
else tramples it under foot. Where then is the ground of such 
an influence? But, sir, I am insulting you by arguing on such 
a subject. Yet, preposterous and ridiculous as the insinuation 
is, it is propagated with so much industry, that there are persons 
found foolish and credulous enough to believe it. You will, no 
doubt, think it incredible (but I have nevertheless been told it as 
a fact,) that an honorable member of this house, now in my eye, 
recently lost his election by the circulation of a silly story in his 
district, that he was the first cousin of the emperor Napoleon. 
The proof of the charge rested on the statement of facts, which 
was undoubtedly true. The gentleman in question, it was al- 
ledged, had married a connexion of the lady of the President of 
the United States, who was the intimate friend of Thomas Jef 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 47 

ferson, late President of the United States, who some years ago 
was in the habit of Avearing red Frencli breeches. Now, taking 
tliese premises as established, you, Mr. Chairman, are too good 
a logician not to see that the conclusion necessarily follows ! 

Throughout the period he had been speaking ofj the opposition 
has been distinguished, amidst all its veerings and changes, by 
another inllexible feature — the application to Bonaparte of every 
vile and opprobrious epithet, our language, copious as it is in 
terms of vituperation, atibrds. He has been compared to every 
hideous monster and beast, from that mentioned in the Revela- 
tions, down to the most insignificant quadruped. He has been 
called the scourge of mankind, the destroyer of Europe, the 
great robber, the infidel, the modern Attila, and heaven knows 
by what other names. Really, gentlemen remind me of an 
obscure lady, in a city not very far off, who also took it into her 
head, in conversation with an accomplished French gentleman, 
to talk of the affairs of Europe. She too spoke of the destruction 
of the balance of power, stormed and raged about the insatiable 
ambition of the Emperor ; called him the curse of mankind, the 
destroyer of Europe. The Frenchman listened to her with 
perfect patience, and, when she had ceased, said to her, with 
ineffable politeness, "Madam, it would give my master, the Em- 
peror, infinite pain, if he knew how hardly you thought of him." 
Sir, gentlemen appear to me to forget that they stand on Ameri- 
can soil; that they are not in the British House of Commons, 
but in the chamber of the House of Representatives of the Uni- 
ted States; that we have nothing to do with the affairs of Europe, 
tiie partition of territory and sovereignty there, except so lar as 
these things affect the interests of our own country. Gentlemen 
transform themselves into the Burkes, Chathams and Pitts of 
another country, and forgetting, from honest zeal, the interests 
of America, engage with European sensibility in the discussion 
of European interests. If gentlemen ask me whether 1 do not 
view with regret and horror the concentration of such vast power 
in the hands of Bonaparte, I reply that I do. I regret 1o see the 
Emperor of China Jiolding sucli immense sway over the fortunes 
of millions of our species. I regret to see Great Britain pos- 
sessing so uncontrolled a command over all the Avaters of our 
globe. If I had the ability to distribute among the nations of 
Europe their several portions of power and sovereignty, I would 
say that Holland should be resuscitated, and given the weight 
she enjoyed in the days of her De Witts. I would confine 
France within her natural boundaries, the Alps, Pyrenees, and 
the Rhine, and make her a secondary naval power only. I 
Avould abridge the British maritime power, raise Prussia and 
Austria to their original condition, and preserve the integrity of 
tlie empire of Russia. But these are speculations. I look at the 
}iolitical transactions of Europe, with the single exception of 
their possible bearing upon us, as I do at the history of other 
countries, or other times. I do not survey them witli half the 



43 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL.^ 

interest that I do the movements in South America. Our politi- 
cal relations with them is much less important than it is supposed 
to be. I have no tears of French or English subjugation. If we 
are united, we are too powerful for the mightiest nation in Eu- 
rope, or all Europe combined. If we are separated and torn 
assunder, we shall become an easy prey to the weakest of them. 
In the latter dreadful contingency, our country will not be worth 
preserving. 

Next to the notice which the opposition has found itself called 
upon to bestow upon the French Emperor, a distinguished citizen 
of Virginia, formerly President of tlie United States, has never 
for a moment failed to receive their kindest and most respectful 
attention. An honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. 
Q,uincy,) of whom I am sorry to say it becomes necessary for 
me, in the course of my remarks, to take some notice, has alluded 
to him in a remarkable manner. Neither his retirement from 
public office, his eminent services, nor his advanced age, can 
exempt this patriot from the coarse assaults of party malevo- 
lence. No, sir, in ISOl he snatched from the rude hand of 
usurpation the violated constitution of his country, and that is 
his crime. He preserved that instrument, in form, and sub- 
stance, and spirit, a precious inheritance for generations to come, 
and lor this he can never be forgiven. How vain and impotent 
is party r;ige, directed against such a man! He is not more 
elevated by his lofty residence, upon the summit of his own fa- 
vorite mountain, than he is lifted, by the serenity of liis mind, 
and the consciousness of a Avell sjient life, above the malignant 
passions and bitter feelings of the day. No! his own beloved 
Monticello, is not more moved by the storms that beat against 
its sides, than is this illustrious man, by the bowlings of the 
whole British pack set loose from the Essex kennel ! When the 
gentleman to whom I have been compelled to allude shall have 
mingled his dust with that of his abused ancestors — when he 
shall have been consigned to oblivion, or, if he lives at all, shall 
live only in the treasonable annals of a certain junto, the mune 
of JetTerson will be hailed with gratitude, his memory honored 
and cherished as the second founder of the liberties of the peo- 
ple, and the period of his administration will be looked back to 
as one of the happiest and brightest epochs of American histo- 
ry;* an Oasis in the midst of a sandy desert. But I beg the 
gentleman's pardon ; he has indeed secured to himself a more 
imperishable fume than I had supposed. I thinlc it was about 
four years ago that he submitted to the House of Representatives 
an initiative proposition for an impeachment of Mr. Jefferson. 
The House condescended to consider it. The gentleman debated 
it with his usual temper, moderation and urbanity. The House 
decided upon it in the most solemn manner, and, although the 
gentleman had some how obtained a second, the final vote stood, 
one for, and one hundred and seventeen against the proposition ! 

• This prediction is already beginning lo be realized.— Eo. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 49 

The same historic page that transmitted to posterity the virtue 
and the glory of Henry the Great of France, tor their admiration 
and example, has preserved the infamous name of the fanatic 
assassin of that excellent monarch. The same sacred pen that 
portrayed the sufferings and crucifixion of the Saviour of man- 
kind, has recorded, for universal execration, the name of him 
who was guiliy, not of betraying his country, but (a kindred 
crime,) of betraying his God. 

In one respect there is a remarkable difference between the 
administration and the opposition; — it is in a sacred regard for 
personal liberty. When out of power my political friends con- 
demned the surrender of Jonathan Robbins, they opposed tlae 
violation of the freedom of the press, in the sedition law ; they 
opposed the more insidious attack upon the freedom of the person 
under the imposing garb of an alien law. The party now in 
opposition, then in power, advocated the sacrifice of the unhappy 
Robbins, and passed those two laws. True to our principles, 
we are now struggling for the liberty of our seamen against 
foreign oppression. True to theirs, they oppose a war underta- 
ken for this object. They have indeed lately affected a tender 
solicitude for the liberties of the people, and talk of the danger 
of standing armies, and the burden of taxes. But it must be 
evident to you, Mr. Chairman, that they speak in a foreign idiom. 
Their brogue evinces that it is not their vernacular tongue. 
What! the opposition who, in 1798 and 1799, could raise an 
useless army to fight an enemy three thousand miles distant from 
us, alarmed at the existence of one raised for a known and spe- 
cified object — the attack of the adjoining provinces of the ene- 
^my.» What! the gentleman from Massachusetts, who assisted 
by his vote to raise the army of 25,000, alarmed at the danger 
01 our liberties from this very army ! 

But, sir, I mustspeakof another subject, which I never think of 
but with feelings of the deepest awe. The gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts, in imitation of some of his predecessors of 1799, has 
entertained us with a picture of cabinet plots, presidential plots, 
and all sorts of plots, which have been engendered by the dis- 
eased state of the gentleman's imagination. I wish, sir, that 
another plot of a much more serious and alarming character, — a 
plot that aims at the dismemberment of our Union, had only the 
same imaginary existence. But no man, who has paid any at- 
tention to the tone of certain prints, and to transactions in a par- 
ticular quarter of the Union, for several years past, can doubt 
the existence of such a plot. It was far, very far from my inten- 
tion to charge the opposition with such a design. No, I believe 
them generally incapable of it. But I cannot say as much for 
some, who have been unworthily associated with them in the 
quarter of the Union to which I have referred. The gen- 
tleman cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even « ^ 
the floor of this house, "peaceably if we can, forcibly if we 
5 



50 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

must ;" nearly at the very time Henry's mission to Boston wat 
undertaken. The flagitiousness of that embassy had been at- 
tempted to be concealed, by directing the public attention to the 
price which, the gentleman says, was given for the disclosure. 
As it" any price could change the atrociousness of the attempt on 
the part of Great Britain, or could extenuate, in the slightest de- 
gree, the ofience of those citizens, who entertained and deliber- 
ated uponaproposition so infamous and unnatural! There was a 
most remarkable coincidence between some of the things which 
that man states, and certain events in the quarter alluded to. In 
the contingency of a war with Great Britain, it will be recollect- 
ed that the neutrality and eventual separation of that section oi* 
the Union was to be brought about. How, sir, has it happened, 
since the declaration of war, that British officers in Canada have 
as.serted to American officers, that this very neutrality would take 
place? That they have so asserted can be established beyond 
controversy. The project is not brought forward openly, with a 
direct avowal of the intention. No, the stock of good sense ami 
patriotism in that portion of the country is too great to be undis- 
guisedly encountered. It is assailed from the masked batteries 
of friendship, of peace and commerce on the one side, and by the 
groundless imputation of opposite propensities on the other. The 
atlections of the people there, are gradually to be undermined. 
The project is suggested or withdrawn; the diabolical dramatis 
pemoncp, in this criminal tragedy, make their appearance, or exit, 
as the audience, to whom they address themselves, applaud, or 
condemn. I was astonished sir, in reading lately a Idler, or pre- 
tended letter, published in a prominent print in that quarter, anil 
written not in the fervor of party zeal, but coolly and dispasston- < 
ately, to find that the writer affected to reason about a separation, 
and attempted to demonstrate its advantages to the different por- 
tions of tlie Union, — deploring the existence now of what he 
terms prejudices against it. l)ut hoping for the arrival of the pe- 
riod when they shall be eradicated. But, sir, I will quit this un- 
pleasant subject; I will turn from one, whom no sense of decenc 
or propriety could restrain from soiling the carpet on which I 
ti-eads,* to gentlemen who have not forgotten what is due to 
themselves, to the place in which we are assembletl, or to thos> 
bywhom they are opposed. The gentlemen Irom North Carolina, 
(Mr. Pearson.) from Connecticut, (Mr. Pitkin.) and from New 
York. (Mr. Bleeker,) have, with their usual decorum, contended 
That the war would not have been declared, had it not been for 
the duplicity of France, in -withholding an authentic instrument, 
repealing the decrees of Berlin and Milan, that upon the exhib- 
ition of such an instrument the revocation of the orders in council 
took place ; that this main cause of the war, but for which '♦ 
would not have been declared, being removed, the administn, 

* U i.<! due to Mr. C. to observe, thai one of the most otTensive expressions used 
Mr. Q.. au expression which produced diasust on all sides of the house, has beei. 
omitted in that geutleinaii's reported speech, which in other respects lias been much 
sofieued.— Edilur, 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 51 

tion ought to seek for (he restoraiion of peace ; and tiiat upon ibj 
sincerely doing so, terms compatible with ihe honor and interest 
of this country might be obtained. It is my purpose, said Mr. C. 
to examine, first, into tlie circumstances under which the war was 
declared ; secondly, into tlic causes of continuing it ; and lastly, 
into the means which have been taken, or ought to be taken to 
procure peace ; but sir, I am really so exhausted that, little as I 
am in the habit of asking of the house an indulgence of tliis kind, 
I feel I must trespass on their goodness. 

[Here Mr. C. sat down. Mr. Newton then moved that the com- 
mittee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, Avhich was 
done. On the next day he proceeded.] 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, that some part of the debate, to 
which this bill has given rise, has been attended by circum- 
stances much to be regretted, not usual in this House, and of 
which it is to be hoped, there will be no repetition. TJie gentle- 
man from Boston had so absolved himself from every rule of de- 
corum and propriety, had so outraged all decency, that I have 
found it impossible to suppress the feelings excited on the occasion. 
His colleague, whom I have the honor to follow, (Mr. Wheaton,) 
whatever else he might not have proved, in his very learned, in- 
genious and original exposition of the powers of this govern- 
ment — an exposition in which he has sought, where nobody be- 
fore him has, and nobody after him will, look, for a grant of our 
powers, I mean the preamble to the constitution, — has clearly 
shown, to the satisfaction of all who heard him, that the poAveV 
of defensive war is conferred. I claim the benefit of a similar 
principle, in behalf of my political friends, against the gentleman 
from Boston. I demand only the exercise of the right of repul- 
sion. No one is more anxious than I am to preserve the dignity 
and freedom of debate — no member is more responsible for its 
abuse, and if, on this occasion, its just limits have been violated, 
let him, who has been the unprovoked aggressor, appropriate to 
himself, exclusively, the consequences. 

I omitted yesterday, sir, when speaking of a delicate and pain- 
ful subject, to notice a powerful engine which the conspirators 
against the integrity of the Union, employ to eftect their nefari- 
ous purposes — I mean southern influence. The true friend to his 
country, knowing that our constitution was the work of compro- 
mise, in which interests apparently conflicting were attempted to 
be reconciled, aims to extinguish or allay prejudices. But this 
patriotic exertion does not suit the views of those who are urged 
on by diabolical ambition. They find it convenient to imagine 
tJie existence of certain improper influences, and to propagate 
with their utmost industry a behef of them. Hence tlie idea of 
southern preponderance, — Virginia influence, — the yoking of the 
respectable yeomanry of the north, with negro slaves, to the car 
of southern nabobs. If Virginia really cherished a repreJicnsible 
ambition, an aim to monopolize the chief magistracy of the coun- 
try, how Avas such a purpose to be accomplished ? Virginia, 



52 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

alone, cannot elect a president, whose elevation depends upon ?. 
plurality of electoral votes, and a consequent concurrence of 
many states. Would Vermont, disinterested Pennsylvania, the 
Carolinas, independent Georgia. Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio. 
Louisiana, all consent to become the tools of inordinate ambition? 
But the present incumbent was designated to the office before his 
predecessor had retired. How ? By public sentiment, — public 
sentiment which grew out of his known virtues, his illustriouK 
services, and his distinguished abilities. Would the gentleman 
crush this public sentiment, — is he prepared to admit tliat he 
would arrest the progress of opinion ? 

The war was declared because Great Britain arrogated to 
herself the pretension of regulating our foreign trade, under the 
delusive name of retaliatory orders in council, — a pretension by 
which she undertook to proclaim to American enterprize : " Thus 
far shalt tliou go, and no farther," — orders which she refused to 
revoke after the alledged cause of their enactment had ceased ; 
because she persisted in the practice of impressing American 
seamen ; becavise she had instigated the Indians to commit hos- 
tilities against us ; and because she refused indemnity for her 
past injuries upon our commerce. I throw out of the question 
other wrongs. The war in fact was announced, on our part, to 
meet the war which she was waging on her part. So undeni- 
able were the causes of the war, — so powerfully did they address 
themselves to the feelings of the whole American people, tha* 
when the bill was pending before this House, gentlemen in the 
opposition, although provoked to debate, would not or could not 
utter one .sylable against it. It is true they wrapped themselves 
up in sullen silence, pretending they did not choose to debate 
such a question in secret session. Whilst speaking of the pro- 
ceedings on that occasion, I beg to be permitted to advert to an 
other fact which transpired, — an important fact, material for the 
nation to know, and which I have often regretted had not 
been spread upon our journals. My honorable colleague (Mr. 
M'Kee) moved, in committee of the whole, to comprehend 
France in the war ; and when the question was taken upon 
tlie proposition, there appeared but ten votes in support of it, 
of whom seven belonged to this side of the House, and three 
only to the other! It is said that we were inveigled into 
the war by the perfidy of France ; and that had she furnished 
the document in time, which was first published in England, 
in May last, it would have been prevented. I will concede 
to gentlemen every thing they ask about the injustice of 
France towards this country. I wish to God that our ability 
was equal to our disposition, to make her feel the sense that we 
entertain of that injustice. The manner of the publication of 
the paper in question, was undoubtedly extremely exceptionable. 
But I maintain that had it made its appearance earUer, it would, 
not have had the effect supposed ; and the proof lies in the une- 
quivocal declarations of the British government. I will trouble 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 53 

you sir, with going no further back than to the letters of the 
British minister, addressed to the secretary of state, just before 
tlie expiration of his diplomatic functions. It will be recollected 
by the committee that he exhibited to this government a despatch 
from Lord Castlereagh, in which the principle was distinctly 
avowed, that to produce the effect of a repeal of the orders in 
council, the French decrees must be absolutely and entirely re- 
voked as to all the world, and not as to America alone. A copy 
of that despatch was demanded of him, and he very awkwardly 
evaded it. But on the tenth June, al'ter the bill declaring War 
had actually passed this house, and was pending before the sen- 
ate, (and which, I have no doubt, was known to him,) in a letter 
to Mr. Monroe, he says : " I have no hesitation, sir, in saying 
that Great Britain, as the case has hitherto stood, never did, nor 
ever could engage, without the greatest injustice to herself and 
her allies, as well as to other neutral nations, to repeal her orders 
as aflfecting America alone, leaving them in force against other 
states, upon condition that France would except singly and 
specially, America from the operation of her decrees." On the 
fourteenth of the same month, the bill still pending before the 
senate, he repeats : " I will now say, that I feel entirely author- 
ized to assure you, that if you can at any time produce s. full and 
unconditional repeal of the French decrees, as you have a right 
to demand it in your character of a neutral nation, and that it be 
disengaged from any question concerning our maritime rights, 
we shall be ready to meet you with a revocation of the orders in 
council. Previously to your producing s^^ch an instrument, which 
I am sorry to see you regard as unnecessary, you cannot ex- 
pect of us to give up our orders in council." Thus, sir, you 
see that the British government would not be content with a 
repeal of the French decrees as to us only. But the French 
paper in question was such a repeal. It could not there- 
fore satisfy the British government. It could not therefore 
have induced that government, had it been earlier promul- 
gated, to repeal the orders in council. It could not therefore 
have averted the war. The withholding of it did not occasion 
the war, and the promulgation of it would not have prevented 
tlie war. But gentlemen have contended that, in point of fact, 
it did produce a repeal of the orders in council. This I deny. 
After it made its appearance in England, it was declared by one 
of the British ministry, in parliament, not to be satisfactory. 
And all the world knows, that the repeal of the orders iii council 
resulted from the inquiry, reluctantly acceded to by the ministry, 
into the etiect upon their manufacturing establishments, of our 
non-importation law, or to the warlike attitude assumed by this 
government, or to both. But it is said that the orders in council 
are withdrawn, no matter from what cause ; and that having 
been the sole motive for declaring the war, the relations of peace 
ought to be restored. This brings me to the examination of the 
6* 



54 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

grounds for continuing the present hostilities between this coun- 
try and Great Britain. 

I am I'ar irom acknowledging that, had the orders in council 
been repealed, as they have been, before the war was declared, 
the declaration of hostilities would of course have been pre- 
vented. In a body so numerous as this is, from which the decla- 
ration emanated, it is impossible to say, with any degree of 
certainty, what would have been the effect of such a repeal. 
Each member must answer for himself As to myself, I have 
no hesitation in saying, that I have always considered the im- 
pressment of American seamen as much the most serious ag- 
gression. But, sir, how have those orders at last been repealed'? 
Great Britain, it is true, has intimated a willingness to suspend 
their practical operation, but she still arrogates to herself the 
right to revive them upon certain contingencies, of which she 
constitutes herself the sole judge. She waves the temporary 
use of the rod, but she suspends it in terrorem over our heads. 
Supposing it to be conceded to gentlemen that such a repeal 
of the orders in council as took place on the twenty-third June 
last, exceptionable as it is, being known before the war was 
proclaimed, would have prevented it: does it Ibllow that it ought 
to induce us to lay down our arms, without the redress of any 
other injin-y of which we complain? Does it follow, in all cases, 
that that which would, in the tirst instance, have prevented, would 
also terminate the war? By no means. It requires a strong 
and powerful effort in a nation, prone to peace as this is, to burst 
tlirough its habits and encounter the difficulties and privations 
of war. Such a nation ought but seldom to embark in a belli- 
gerent contest; but when it does, it should be for obvious and 
essential rights alone, and should firmly resolve to extort, at all 
hazards, their recognition. The war of the revolution is an 
example of a war begun for one object and prosecuted for 
another. It was waged, in its commencement, against the right 
asserted by the parent country to tax the colonies. Then no 
one thought of absolute independence. The idea of indepen- 
dence was repelled. But the British government would have 
relinquished the principle of taxation. The founders of our 
liberties saw, however, that there was no security short of inde- 
pendence, and they achieved tiiat independence. When nations 
are engaged in war, those rights in controversy, which are not 
acknowledged by the treaty of peace, are abandoned. And who 
is prepared to say, tliat American seamen shall be surrendered, 
as victims to the British princij)!c of impressment? And, sir, 
what is this principle? She contends tlmt she has a right to the 
services of her own subjects ; and that, in the exercise of this 
right, she may lawfully impress tliem, even although she tinds 
them in American vessels, upon th;; high seas, without her juris- 
diction. Now I deny that she has any right, beyond her juris- 
diction, to come on board our vessels, uy.on the high seas, for any 
other purpose than in the pursuit of enemies, or their goods, or 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 55 

goods contraband of war. But she further contends, that her 
subjects cannot renounce their allegiance to her, and contract 
a new obligation to other sovereigns. I do not mean to go into 
the general question of the right of expatriation. If, as is con- 
tended, all nations deny it, all nations at the same time admit 
and practice the right of naturalization. Great Britain herself 
does this. Great Britain, in the very case of foreign seamen, 
imposes, perhaps, fewer restraints upon naturalization than any 
other nation. Then, if subjects cannot break their original alle- 
giance, they may, according to universal usage, contract a new 
allegiance. What is the effdct of this double obligation? Un- 
doubtedly, that the sovereign having the possession of the 
subject, would have the right to the services of the subject. If 
he return within the jurisdiction of his primitive sovereign, he 
may resume his right to his services, of which the subject, by 
his own act, could not divest himself. But his primitive sove- 
reign can have no right to go in quest of him, out of his own 
jurisdiction, into the jurisdiction of another sovereign, or upon 
the high seas, where there exists either no jurisdiction, or it is 
possessed by the nation owning the ship navigating them. But, 
sir, this discussion is altogether useless. It is not to the British 
principle, objectionable as it is, that we are alone to look; it is 
to her practice, no matter what guise she puts on. It is in vain 
to assert the inviolability of the obligation of allegiance. It is 
in vain to set up the plea of nece.?sitj-, and to alledge that she 
cannot exist without the impressment of HER seamen. The 
naked truth is, she comes, by her press gangs, on board of our 
vessels, seizes OUR native as well as naturalized seamen, and 
drags them into her service. It is the case, then, of the assertion 
of an erroneous principle, and of a practice not conformable to 
the asserted principle — a principle which, if it were theoretically 
right, must be forever practically wrong — a practice which can 
obtain countenance from no principle whatever, and to submit to 
which, on our part, would betray the most abject degradation. 
We are told, by gentlemen in the opposition, that government 
has not done all that was incumbent on it to do, to avoid just 
cause of complaint on the part of Great Britain — that, in par- 
ticular, the certificates of protection, authorized by the act of 
1796, are fraudulently used. Sir, government has done too 
much in granting those paper protections. I can never think 
of them without being shocked. They resemble the passes 
which the master grants to his negro slave — "let the bearer, 
Mungo, pass and repass without molestation." What do they 
imply? That Great Britain has a right to seize all who are 
not provided with them. From their very nature they must be 
liable to abuse on both sides. If Great Britain desires a mark 
Ly which she can know her own subjects, let her give them an 
ear mark. The colors that float from the mast head should be 
the credentials of our seamen. There is no safety to us, and 
the gentlemen have shown it, but in the rule that all who sail 



5C ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

under the flag, (not being enemies,) are protected by the flag. 
It is impossible that this country should ever abandon the gal- 
lant tars who have won for us such splendid trophies. Let me 
suppose that the Genius of Columbia should visit one of them 
in his oppressor's prison, and attempt to reconcile him to his 
forlorn and wretched condition. She would say to him, in the 
language of gentlemen on the other side^ "Great Britain intends 
you no harm; she did not mean to impress you, but one of her 
own subjects; having taken you by mistake, I will remonstrate, 
and try to prevail upon her, by peaceable means, lo release you, 
but I cannot, my son, fight for you." If he did not consider this 
mere mockery, the poor tar would address her judgment and 
say, "you ov\'8 me, my country, protection; I owe you, in return, 
obedience. I am no British subject; I am a native of old Mas- 
sachusetts, where live my aged father, my wife, my children. 
I have faithfully discharged my duty. Will you refuse to do 
yours?"' Appealing to her passions, he would continue: "I lost 
this eye in fighting vmder Truxton, with the Insurgente; I got 
this scar before Tripoli; I broke this leg on board tlie Constitu- 
tion, when the Guerriere struck." If she remained still unmoved, 
he would break out, in the accents of mingled distress and despair 

Hard, hard ig my fate ! once I freedom enjoyed, 

Was as happy as happy could be! 

Oh 1 how hard is my fate, how galling these chains ! 

I will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to which he would 
be driven, by an abandonment of him to his oppressor. It will 
not be, it cannot be, that his country will refuse him protection. 
It is said that Great Britain has been always willing to make 
a satisfactory arrangement of the subject of impressment, and 
that Mr. King had nearly concluded one prior to his departure 
from that country. Let us hear what that minister says, upon 
[lis return to America. In his letter dated at New-York, in 
July, 1803, after giving an account of his attempt to ibrm an 
arrangement for the protection of our seamen, and his interviews 
to this end with Lords Hawkesbury and St. Vincent, and stating 
that, when he had supposed the terms of a convention were 
agreed upon, a new pretension was set up, (the mare claiisum,) 
he concludes: "I regret not to have been able to put this busi- 
ness on a satisfactory looting, knowing as I do its very great 
importance to both parties; but I flatter myself that I have not 
misjudged the interests of our own country, in refusing to sanc- 
tion a principle that might be productive of more extensive evils 
than those it was our aim to prevent." The sequel of his negotia- 
tion, on this affair, is more fully given in the recent conversation 

* It Is impossible lo describe the pathetic effect produced by this part of the speech. 
The day was chilling culd, g, much so, that Mr. Clay, has been heard to de- 
clare, that it was the only lime he ever spoke, when he was unable to keep himself 
wann by the exercise of speaking, yet tuere were few eyes tliat did not testify to 
ihe sensibility excited.— Editok. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 57 

between Mr. Russell and Lord Castlereagh, communicated to 
Congress during its present session. Lord Castlereagh says to 
Mr. Russell : 

" Indeed there has evidently been much misapprehension on 
this subject, an erroneous belief entertained that an arrangement 
in regard to it, has been nearer an accomplishment than the 
tacts will warrant. Even our friends in Congress, I mean those 
wlio arc opposed to going to war vvitli us, have been so confident 
in this mistake, that they have ascribed the failure of such an 
arrangement, solely to the misconduct of the American govern- 
• menu* This error probably originated with Mr. King, for, being 
much esteemed here, and always well received by the persons in 
power, he seems to have misconstrued their readiness to listen to 
his representations, and their warm professions of a disposition 
to remove the complaints of America in relation to impressment, 
into a supposed conviction on their part of the propriety of 
adopting the plan which he had proposed. But Lord St. Vincent, 
whom he might have thought he had brought over to his opin- 
ions, appears never for a moment to have ceased to regard all 
arrangement on the subject, to be attended with formidable, if 
sot insurmountable obstacles. This is obvious from a letter 
which his lordship addressed to Sir Wm. Scott at the time." 
Here Lord Castlereagh read a letter, contained in the records be- 
fore him, in which Lord St. Vincent states to Sir Wm. Scott the 
zeal with which Mr. King has assailed him on the subject of im- 
pressment, confesses his own perplexity, and total incompetency to 
discover any practical project for the safe discontinuance of that 
practice, and asks for council and advice. " Thus you see," pro- 
ceded Lord Castlereagh, " that the confidence of Mr. King on 
this subject was entirely unfounded." 

Thus it is apparent, that, at no time, has the enemy been 
willing to place this subject on a satisfactory footing. I will 
speak hereafter of the overtures made by administration since 
the war. 

The honorable gentleman from New York (Mr. Bleeker,) in 
the very sensible speech with which he favored the committee, 
made one observation which did not comport with his usual 
liberal and enlarged views. It was that those who are most inter- 
ested against the practice of impressment, did not desire a continu- 
ance of the war on account of it, whilst those (the southern and 
western members,) who had no interest in it, were the zealous 
advocates of American seamen. It was a provincial sentiment 
unworthy of that gentleman. It was one which, in a change of 
condition, he would not express, because I know he could not Ceet 
it. Does not that gentleman feel for the unhappy victims of the 
tomahawk in the western wilds, altliough his quarter of the 
Union may be exempted from similar barbarities ? I am sure lie 
does. If there be a description of rights which, more than any 
other, should unite all parties in all quarters of the Union, it is 
unquestionably the rights of the person. No matter what his 



58 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

vocation; whether he seeks subsistence amidst tlie darygers 
of the deep, or draws them from the bowels of the earth, or from 
the humblest occupations of mechanic life: whenever the sacred 
righta of an American freeman are assailed, all hearts ought to 
unite and every arm should be braced to vindicate his cause. 

The gentleman from Delaware sees in Canada no object \vor- 
thy of conquest. According to him, it is a cold, sterile and in- 
hospitable region. And yet, such are the allurements which it 
offers, that the same gentleman appreliends that, if it be annexed 
to the United States, already too much weakened by an exten- 
■sion of territory, the people of New-England will rush ovey the 
line and depopulate that section of the Union ! That gentleman 
considers it honest to hold Canada as a kind of hostage ; to 
regard it as a sort of bond for the good behaviour of the enemy. 
But he will not enforce the bond. The actual conquest of that 
country would, according to him, make no impresssion upon the 
enemy, and yet the very apprehension only of such a conquest 
would at all times have a powerful operation upon him ! Other 
gentlemen consider the invasion of that country as wicked and 
vinjustifiable. Its inhabitants are represented as harmless and 
unoffending; as connected with those of the bordering States by 
a thousand tender ties, interchanging acts of kindness, and all 
the offices of good neighborhood. Canada, said Mr. Clay, inno- 
cent! Canada, vmoffending! Is it not in Canada that the toma- 
hawk of the savage has been moulded into its death-like form? 
Has it not been from Canadian magazines. Maiden and others, 
that those supplies have been issued which nourish and continue 
the Indian hostilities ? supplies which have enabled the savage 
hordes to butcher the garrison of Chicago, and to commit other 
horrible excesses and murders? Was it not by the joint co-ope- 
ration of Canadians and Indians that a remote American fort, 
Michilimackinac, was assailed and reduced, while in ignorance of 
a state of war? But, sir, how soon have the opposition changed 
their tone! When administration was striving, by the ope- 
ration of peaceful measures, to bring Great Britain back to a 
sense of justice, they were for old-1'ashioned war. And now 
they have got old-fashioned war, their sensibilities are cruelly 
shocked, and all their sympathies lavished upon the harmless 
inhabitants of the adjoining provinces. What does a state of 
war present? The united energies of one people, arrayed against 
the combined energies of another — a conflict in which each party 
aims to inflict all the injury it can, by sea and land, upon the 
territories, property and citizens of tlie other, subject only to the 
rules of mitigated war, practised by civilized nations. The ger> 
tleman would not touch the continental provinces of the enemy, 
nor, I presume, for the same reason, her possessions in the West 
Indies. The same humane spirit would spare the seamen and 
soldiers of the enemy. The sacred person of his majesty must 
not be attacked, for the learned gentlemen, on the other side, 
are quite familiar with the maxim, that tJie king can do no 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 59- 

wrong. Indeed, sir, I know of no person on whom we may 
make war, upon the principles of the honorable gentlemen, but 
Mr. Stephen, the celebrated author of the orders in council, or 
the board of admiralty, who authorize and regulate the practice 
of impressment! 

The disasters of the war admonish us, we are told, of the ne- 
cessity of terminating the contest. If our achievements by land 
have been less splendid than those of our intrepid seamen by 
water, it is not because the American soldier is less brave. On 
tlie one element organization, discipline, and a thorough Icnow- 
' ledge of their duties exist, on the part of the officers and their 
men. On the other almost every thing is yet to be acquired. 
We have however the consolation that our country abounds with 
the richest materials, and that in no instance when engaged in 
action have our arms been tarnished. At Brownstown and at 
Q,ueenstown the valor of veterans was displayed, and acts of the 
noblest heroism were performed. It is true, that the disgrace of 
Detroit remains to be wiped off. That is a subject on which I 
cannot trast my ieelings, it is not fitting I should speak. But this 
much I will say, it was an event which no human foresight could 
have anticipated, and for which the administration cannot be 
justly censured. It was the parent of all the misfortunes we 
have experienced on land. But for it the Indian war would have 
been in a great measure prevented or terminated ; the ascend- 
ancy on lake Erie acquired, and ihe war pushed on perhaps to 
Montreal. With the exception of that event, the war, even upon 
the land, has been attended by a series of the most brilliant ex- 
ploits, which, whatever interest they may inspire on this side of 
the mountains, have given the greatest pleasure on the other. 
The expedition under the command of Governor Edwards and 
Colonel Russel, to lake Peoria on the Illinois, was completely guc- 
cessful. So was that of Captain Craig, who it is said ascended 
that river still higher. General Hopkins destroyed the prophet's 
town. We have just received intelligence of the gallant enter- 
prize of Colonel Campbell. In short, sir, the Indian towns have 
been swept from the mouth to the source of the Wabash, and a 
hostile country has been penetrated far beyond the most daring 
incursions of any campaign during the former Indian war. Nev- 
er was more cool deliberate bravery displayed than that by New- 
man's party from Georgia. And the capture of the Detroit, and 
die destruction of the Caledonia, (whether placed to a maritime 
or land account,) for judgment, skill, and courage on the part of 
Lieutenant Elliott, have never been surpassed. 

It is alledged that the elections in England are in favor of the?" 
ministry, and that those in this country are against the war. Iff 
in such a cause (saying notliing of the impurity of their elections) 
the people of that country have rallied round their governmeni^ 
it affords a salutary lesson to the people here, who at all hazards 
ought to support theirs, struggling as it is to maintain our yust 
rights. But the people here liave not been false to themselves j 



60 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

a great majority approve the war, as is evinced by the recent re- 
election of the chief magistrate. Suppose it were even true that 
an entire section of the Union were opposed to the war, that sec- 
tion being a minority, is the will of the majority to be relinquish-^ 
ed ? In that section the real strength of the opposition had been 
greatly exaggerated. Vermont has, by two successive expres- 
sions of her opinion, approved the declaration of war. In New- 
Hampshire, parties are so nearly equipoized, that out of thirty 
or thirty-five thousand votes, those who approved and are for 
supporting it, lost the election by only one thousand or one thou- 
sand five hundred. In Massachusetts alone have they obtained 
any considerable accession. If vve come to New- York, we shall 
find that other and local causes have influenced her elections. 

What cause, Mr. Chairman, Avhich existed for declaring the 
war has been removed ? We sought indemnity for the past and 
security for the future. The orders in council are suspended, 
not revoked ; no compensation for spoliations. Indian hostilities, 
which were before secretly instigated, are now openly encour- 
aged ; and the practice of impressment unremittingly persevered 
in and insisted upon. Yet administration has given the strong- 
est demonstrations of its love of peace. On the twenty-nintJi 
June, less than ten days after the declaration of war, the secre- 
tary of state writes to Mr. Russell, authorizing him to agree to 
an armistice, upon two conditions only, and what are they f That 
the orders in council should be repealed, and the practice of im- 
pressing American seamen cease, those already impressed being 
released. The proposition was for nothing more than a real 
truce; that the war should in fact cease on both sides. Again, 
on tlie twenty-seventh of July, one month later, anticipating a 
possible objection to these terms, reasonable as they are, Mr. 
Monroe empowers Mr. Russell to stipulate in general terms for 
an armistice, having only an informal understanding on these 
points. In return, the enemy is offered a prohibition of the em- 
ployment of his seamen in our service, thus removing entirely 
all pretext for the practice of impressment. The very proposi- 
tion which the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Pitkin) contends 
ought to be made, has been made. How are these pacific ad- 
vances met by the other party ? Rejected as absolutely inad- 
missible ; cavils are indulged about the inadequacy of Mr. Rus- 
sell's powers, and the want of an act of Congress is intimated. 
And yet the constant nsage of nations I believe is, where tlie 
legislation of one party is necessary to carry into effect a given 
stipulation, to leave it to the contracting party to provide the re- 
' quisite laws." If he fail to do so, it is a breach of good faith, and 
becomes the subject of subsequent remonstrance by the injured 
party. When Mr. Russell renews the overture, in what was in- 
tended as a more agreeable form to the British government. Lord 
Caetlereagh is not content with a simple rejection, but clothes it 
in the language of insult. Afterwards, in conversation with Mr. 
Russell, the moderation of our government is misinterpreted and 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. . 61 

made the occasion of a sneer, that we are tired of the war. The 
proposition of Admiral Warren is submitted in a spirit not more 
pacific. He is instructed, he tells us, to propose that the govern- 
ment of the United States shall instantly recall their letters of 
marque and reprisal against British ships, together with all or- 
ders and instructions for any acts of hostihty whatever against 
the territories of his majesty or the persons or property of his 
subjects. That small affair being setded, he is further authorized 
to arrange as to the revocation of the laws which interdict the 
commerce and ships of war of his majesty from the harbors and 
waters of the United States. This messenger of peace comes 
with one qualified concession in his pocket, not made to the jus^ 
tice of our demands, and is fully empowered to receive our hom- 
age, a contrite retraction of all our measures adopted against his 
master ! And in default, he does not fail to assure us, the orders 
in council are to be forthwith revived. Administration, still anx- 
ious to terminate the war, suppresses the indignation which such 
a proposal ought to have created, and in its answer concludes by 
informing Admiral Warren, "that if there be no objection to an 
accommodation of the difierence relating to impressment, in the 
mode proposed, other than the suspension of the British claim to 
impressment during the armistice, there can be none to proceed- 
ing lilthout the armistice, to an immediate discussion and ar- 
rangement of an article on that subject." Thus it has left the 
door of negotiation unclosed, and it remains to be seen if the en- 
emy will accept the invitation tendered to him. The honorable 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pearson,) supposes, that if 
Congress would pass a law, prohibiting the employment of Brit- 
ish seamen in our service, upon condition of a like prohibition on 
their part, and repeal the act of non-importation, peace would im- 
mediately follow. Sir, I have no doubt if such a law were to 
pass, with all the requisite solemnities, and the repeal to take 
place, Lord Castlereagh would laugh at our simplicity. No, sir, 
administration has erred in the steps which it has taken to re- 
store peace, but its error has been not in doing too little, but in 
betraying too great a solicitude for that event. An honorable 
peace is attainable oBly by an efficient war. My plan would be to 
call ouc the ample resources of the country, give them a judicious 
direction, prosecute the war with the utmost vigor, strike wher- 
ever we can reach the enemy, at sea or on land, and negotiate 
the terms of a peace at Q,uebec or at Halifax. We are told that 
England is a proud and lofty nation, which disdaining to wait for 
danger, meets it half way. Haughty as she is, we once triumph- 
ed over her, and, if we do not listen to the coimsels of timidity 
and despair, we shall agaui prevail. In such a cause, with the 
aid of Providence, we must come out crowned with success ; but 
if we fail, let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gallant tars, 
and expire together in one common struggle, fighting for free 

TRADE AND SEAMAN's RIGHTS. 

6 



62 ON THE EMANCIPATION OP S. AMERICA. 

ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH 
AMERICA. 

Speech of Mr. Clay, on his proposition to make an appropria- 
tion for the outfit, and one year's salary, for a Minister to 
Buenos Ayres; delivered March 24, ISIS. 

The House being in committee of the whole, on the bill ma- 
king appropriation for the support of government for the year 
1818, 

Mr. Clay rose, under feelings of deeper regret than he had 
ever experienced on any former occasion, inspired, principally, 
by the painful consideration, that he found himself, on the propo- 
sition winch he meant to submit, differing from many highly 
esteemed friends, in and out of this House, for whose judgment 
he entertained the greatest respect. A knowledge ot" this cir- 
cumstance had induced him to pause ; to subject his own con- 
victions to the severest scrutiny; and to revolve the question over 
and over again. But all his reflections had conducted him to 
the ame clear result; and, much as he valued those friends — 
great as his deference was for their opinions — he could not hesi- 
tate, when reduced to the distressing alternative of conforming 
his judgment to theirs, or pursuing the deliberate and matured 
dictates of his own mind. Ke enjoyed some consolation for 
the want of their co-operation, from tlie persuasion that, if he 
erred on this occasion, he erred on the side of the liberty and 
happiness of a large portion of the human family. Another, 
and, if possible, indeed, a greater source of the regret to wliich 
he referred, was the utter incompetency, whicii he unfeignedly 
felt, to do any thing like adequate justice to the great cause 
of American independence and freedom, whose interests he 
wished to promote by his humble exertions in this instance. 
Exhausted and worn down as he was, by the fatigue, confine- 
ment and incessant application incident to the arduous duties 
of the honorable station he held, during a four months' session, 
he should need all that kind indulgence which had been so often 
extended to him by the House. 

He begged, in the first place, to correct misconceptions, if any 
existed, in regard to his ojoinions. He was averse from war 
with Spain, or with any power. He would give no just cause 
of war to any power — not to Spain herself. He had seen enough 
of war, and of its calamities, even when successful. No country 
upon earth had more interest than this in cultivating peace, and 
avoiding war, as long as it was possible honorably to avoid it. 
Gaining additional strength every day; our numbers doubling 
in periods of twenty-five years; with an income outstripping all 
our estimates, and so great, as, after a war in some respects 
disastrous, to furnish results which carry astonishment, if not 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 63 

dismay, into the bosom of states jealous of our rising impor- 
tance — we had every motive for the love of peace. He could 
not, however, approve, in all respects, of the manner in which 
our negotiations with Spain had been conducted. If ever a fa- 
vorable time existed for the demand, on the part of an injured 
nalion, of indemnity for past wrongs from the aggressor, such 
was the present time. Impoverished and exhausted at home, 
by the wars which have desolated the peninsula; with a foreign 
war, calling ibr infinitely more resources, in men and money, 
than she can possibly command, this is the auspicious period for 
insisting upon justice at her hands, in a firm and decided tone. 
Time is precisely what Spain now most wants. Yet what are 
we told by the President, in his message at the commencement 
of Congress? That Spain had procrastinated, and we acqui- 
esced in her procrastination. And the Secretary of State, in a 
late communication with Mr. Onis, after ably vindicating all our 
rights, tells the Spanish minister, with a good deal of sang froid, 
tliat we had patiently waited thirteen years for a redress of our 
injuries, and that it required no great eflbrt to wait longer! He 
would have abstained irom thus exposing our intentions. Avoid- 
ing the use of the language of menace, he would have required, 
in temperate and decided terms, indemnity lor all our wrongs ; 
for the spoliations of our commerce ; for the interruption of the 
right of depot at New-Orleans, guarantied by treaty; for the 
insults repeatedly offered to our flag ; for the Indian hostilities, 
which she was bound to prevent; for belligerent use made of her 
ports and territories, by our enemy during the late war — and the 
instantaneous liberation of the free citizens of the United States 
now imprisoned in her jails. Contemporaneous with that de- 
mand, without waiting for her final answer, and with a view to 
the favorable operation on her councils in regard to our own pe- 
culiar interests, as well as in justice to the cause itself, he would 
recognize any established government in Spanish America. He 
would have left Spain to draw her own inferences from these 
proceedings, as to the ultimate step which this country might 
adopt, if she longer withheld justice from us. And if she per- 
severed in her iniquity, after we had conducted the negotiation 
in the manner he had endeavored to describe, he would then 
take up and decide the solemn c^uestion of peace or war, wilh 
the advantage of all the light shed upon it by subsequent events, 
and the probable conduct of Europe. 

Spain had undoubtedly given us abundant and just cause of 
war. But, it was not every cause of war that should lead to 
war. War was one of those dreadful scourges that so shakes 
the foundations of society; overturns or changes tlie character 
of governments; interrupts or destroys the pursuits of private 
happiness; brings, in short, misery and wretchedness in so 
many forms; ancl at last is, in its issue, so doubtful and hazard- 
ous, that nothing but dire necessity can justify an appeal to 
arms. If we were to have war with Spain, he had, however, no 



64 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

hesitation in saying, that no mode of bringing it about could be 
less fortunate than that of seizing, at this time, upon her adjoin- 
ing province. There was a time, under certain circumstances, 
when we might have occupied East Florida with safety; had 
we tlien taken it, our posture in the negotiation with Spain 
would have been totally different from what it is. But we had 
permitted that time, not with his consent, to pass by unimproved. 
If we were now to seize upon Florida, after a great change in 
those circumstances, and after declaring our intention to acqui- 
esce in the procrastination desired by Spain, in what light should 
we be vicAved by Ibreign powers, particularly Great Britain? 
We have already been accused of inordinate ambition, and of 
seeking to aggrandize ourselves by an extension, on all sides, 
of our limits. Should we not, by such an act of violence, 
give color to the accusation '? No, Mr. Chairman, if we are to 
be uivolved in a war with Spain, let us have the credit of disin- 
terestedness ; let us put her yet more in the wrong. Let us 
command the respect which is never withheld from those who 
act a noble and generous part. He hoped to communicate to the 
committee the conviction which he so strongly felt, that, adopt- 
ing the amendment which he intended to propose, would not 
hazard, in the slightest degree, the peace of the countrj'. But, 
if that peace were to be endangered, he would infinitely rather 
it should be for our exerting the right appertaining to every state, 
of acknowledging the independence of another state, than for 
the seizure of a province which, sooner or later, we must cer- 
tainly acquire. 

Mr. Clay proceeded. In contemplating the great struggle in 
which Spanish America is now engaged, our attention is first 
fixed by the immensity and character of the country which Spain 
seeks again to subjugate. Stretching on the Pacific Ocean from 
about tfie 40th degree of north latitude to about the 55th de- 
gree of south latitiide, and extending from the mouth of the 
Rio del Norte, (exclusive of East Florida,) around the Gulf of 
Mexico, and along the South Atlantic to near Cape Horn ; it is 
about 5000 miles in length, and in some places near 3000 in 
breadth. Within tliis vast region, we behold the most sublime 
and interesting; objects of creation; the loftiest mountains, the 
most majestic rivers in the world; the richest mines of the pre- 
cious metals, and the choicest productions of the earth. We 
behold there a spectacle still more interesting and sublime — the 
glorious spectacle of eighteen millions of people, struggling to 
burst their chains and to be free. When we take a little nearer 
and more detailed view, we perceive that nature has, as it were, 
ordained that this people and this country shall ultimately con- 
stitute several different nations. Leaving the United States on 
the north, we come to New Spain, or the vice-royalty of Mexico 
on the south ; passing by Guatamela, we reach the vice-royalty 
of New-Grenada, the late captain-generalship of Venezuela, and 
Guiana, lying on the east side of the Andes. Stepping over 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. % 

the Brazils, we arrive at the united provinces of La Plata, and, 
crossing the Andes, we find Chili on their west side, and, further 
north, the vice-royalty of Lima, or Peru. Each of these several 
parts is sufficient in itself, in point of hmits, to constitute a pow- 
erful state, and, in point of population, that which has the small- 
est contains enough to make it respectable. Throughout all the 
extent of that great portion of the world, which he had attempted 
thus hastily to describe, the spirit of revolt against the dominion 
of Spain had manifested itself The revolution had been at- 
tended with various degrees of success in the several parts of 
Spanish America. In some, it had been already crowned, as 
he would endeavor to show, with complete success, and in all 
he was persuaded that independence had struck such deep root 
as that the power of Spain could never eradicate it. What 
were the causes of this great movement? 

Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of the thrones of 
Montezuma and the Incas of Peru, Spain erected the most stu- 
pendous system of colonial despotism that the world has ever 
tjeen — the most vigorous, the most exclusive. The great prin- 
ciple and object of this system, has been to render one of the 
largest portions of the world exclusively subservient, in all its 
faculties, to the interests of an inconsiderable spot in Europe. 
To effectuate this aim of her policy, she locked up Spanish 
America from all the rest of the world, and prohibited, under the 
severest penalties, any foreigner from entering any part of it. 
To keep the natives themselves ignorant of each other, and of 
the strength and resources of the several parts of her American 
possessions, she next prohibited the inhabitants of one vice-roy- 
alty or government from visiting those of another ; so that the 
inhabitants of Mexico, for example, were not allowed to enter 
the vice-royalty of New Granada. The agriculture of those 
vast regions was so regulated and restrained as to prevent all 
collision Avith the interests of the agriculture of the peninsula. 
Where nature, by the character and composition of the soil, had 
commanded, the abominable system of Spain has forbidden, the 
growth of certain articles. Thus the olive and the vine, to which 
Spanish America is so well adapted, are prohibited, wherever 
their culture could interfere with the olive and the vine of the 
peninsula. The commerce of the country, in the direction and 
objects of the exports and imports, is also subjected to the 
narrow and selfish views of Spain — and fettered by the 
odious spirit of monopoly existing in Cadiz. She has sought, 
by scattering discord among the several casts of her American 

Eopulation, and by a debasing course of education, to perpetuate 
er oppression. Whatever concerns public law, or the science 
of government, all writers upon political economy, or that tend to 
give vigor and freedom and expansion to the intellect, are pro- 
hibited. Gentlemen would be astonished by the long list of dis- 
tinguished authors, whom she proscribes, to be found in Depon's 
6* 



66 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

and other works. A main feature in her policy, is that which 
constantly elevates the European and depresses the American 
character. Out of upwards of seven hundred and fifty viceroys 
and captains general, whom she has appointed since the conquest 
of America, about eighteen only have been from the body of the 
American population. On all occasions, she seeks to raise and 
promote her European subjects, and to degrade and humiliate 
the Creoles. Wherever in America her sway extends, every 
thing seems to pine and wither beneath its baneful influence. 
The richest regions of the earth ; man, his happiness and his 
education, all the fine faculties of his soul, are regulated and 
modified, and moulded to suit tlie execrable purposes of an inex- 
orable despotism. 

Such is a brief and imperfect picture of the state of things in 
Spanish America in 1S08, when the famous transactions of Bay- 
onne occurred. The king of Spain and the Indies, (for Spanish 
America had always constituted an integral part of the Spanish, 
empire) abdicated his throne and became a voluntary captive. 
Even at this day, one does not know whether he should most 
condemn the baseness and perfidy of the one party, or despise 
tlie meanness and imbecility of the other. If the obligation of 
obedience and allegiance existed on the part of the colonies to 
the king of Spain, it was founded on the duty of protection which 
he owed them. By disqualifying himself from the performance 
of this duty, they became released from that obligation. The 
monarchy was dissolved; and each integral part had a right to 
seek its own happiness, by the institution of any new government 
adapted to its Avants. Joseph Bonaparte, the successor de facto 
of Ferdinand, recognized tlais right on the part of the colonies, 
and recommended them to establish their independence. Thus, 
upon the ground of strict right; upon the footing of a mere legal 
question, governed by forensic rules, the colonies, being absolved 
by the acts of the parent country from the duty of subjection to 
it, had an indisputable right to set up for themselves. But Mr. 
Clay took a broader and a bolder position. He maintained, that 
an oppressed people were authorized, whenever they could, to 
rise and break their fetters. This was the great principle of the 
English revolution. It was the great principle of our own. Vat- 
tel, if authority Avere wanting, expressly supports this right. 
We must pass sentence of condemnation upon the founders of 
our liberty — say that they were rebels — traitors, and that we are 
at this moment legislating without competent powers, before we 
could condemn tlie cause of Spanish America. Our revolution 
was mainly directed against the mere theory of tyranny. We 
had suffered comparatively but little ; we had, in some respects, 
been kindly treated ; but our intrepid and intelligent fathers saw, 
in the usurpation of the power to levy an inconsiderable tax, the 
long train of oppressive acts that were to follow. Tliey rose ; 
they breasted the storm ; they conquered our freedom. Spanish 
America for centuries has been doomed to the practical effects of 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 67 

an odious tyranny. If we were justified, slie is more than justi- 
fied. 

Mr. Clay said he was no propagandist. He would not seek 
to force upon other nations our principles and our liberty, if they 
did not want them. He would not disturb the repose even of a 
detestable despotism. But, if an abused and oppressed peo- 
ple willed their freedom ; if they sought to estabhsh it; if, in truth, 
they had established it, we had a right, as a sovereign power, to 
notice the fact, and to act as circumstances and our interest re- 
quired. He would say, in the language of the venerated father 
of his country: "Born in a land of liberty, my anxious recollec- 
tions, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are irresist- 
ibly excited, whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed na- 
tion unfurl the banners of freedom." For his own part, Mr. Clay 
said, that whenever he thought of Spanish America, the image 
irresistibly forced itself upon his mind of an elder brother, whose 
education had been neglected, whose person had been abused 
and maltreated, and who had been disinherited by the unkind- 
ness of an unnatural parent. And, when he contemplated the 
glorious struggle which that country was now making, he thought 
he beheld that brother rising, by the power and energy of his 
fine native genius, to the manly rank Avhich nature, and nature's 
God, intended for him. 

If Spanish America were entitled to success from the justness 
of her cause, we had no less reason to wish that success Irom the 
horrible character which the royal arms have given to the war. 
More atrocities than those which had been perpetrated during 
its existence, were not to be found even in the annals of Spain 
herself. And history, reserving some of her blackest pages for 
the name of Morillo, is prepared to place him along side of his 
great prototype, the infamous desolater of the Netherlands. He 
who has looked into the history of thfe conduct of this war, is con- 
stantly shocked at the revolting scenes which it portrays ; at the 
refusal, on the part of the commanders of the royal forces to 
treat, on any terms, with the other side; at the denial of quar- 
ters ; at the butchery, in cold blood, of prisoners ; at the violation 
of ilags, in some cases, after being received with religious cere- 
monies; at the instigation of slaves to rise against their owners: 
and at acts of wanton and useless barbarity. Neither the weak- 
ness of the other sex, nor the imbecility of old age, nor the inno- 
cence of infants, nor the reverence due to the sacerdotal charac- 
ter, can stay the arm of royal vengeance. On this subject he 
begged leave to trouble the committee with reading a few pas- 
sages from a most authentic document, the manifesto of the Con- 
gress of the united provinces of Rio de la Plata, published in 
October last. This was a paper of the highest authority ; it was 
an appeal to the whole world ; it asserted facts of notoriety, in 
tlie face of the whole world. It was not to be credited that the 
Congress would come forward with a statement which was not 
true, when the means, if it were false, of exposing their fabrica- 



68 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

tions, must be so abundant, and so easy to command. It was a 
document, in short, that stood upon the same foothig of authority 
with our own papers, promulgated during the revoUition by our 
Congress. He would add, that many of the facts which it af- 
firmed, were corroborated by most respectable historical testimo- 
ny, which was in his own possession.* 

* The followins are the passasres read by Mr. C. 

" Memory shudders at the recital of the horrors that were then committed by Goy- 
eneche, in Cochabamba. Would to heaven it were possible to blot from remembrance 
the name of that iinsratefiil and blood-thirsty American ; who, on the day of his en- 
try, ordeied the virtuous Governor and intendant, Antesana, to be shot: who, behold- 
ing from the balcony of his house that infamous murder, cried out vi^ilh a ferocious 
voice to the soldiers, that they must not fire at the head, because he wanted it to be 
affixed to a pale ; and who, after the head was taken otT, ordered the cold corpse to be 
drascted throu^'h the streets; and, by a barbarous decree, placed the lives and fortunes 
of the citizens at the mercy of his unbridled soldiery, leavin<r them to exercise their 
licentious and brutal sway durinsj several days ! But tliose blind and cruelly capri- 
cious men, (the Spaniards,) rejected the mediation of England, and despatched rigor- 
ous orders to all the generals, to aggravate the war, and to punish us with more severi- 
ty. The scaffolds were every where multiplied, and invention was racked to devise 
means for spreading murder, distress and consternation. 

" Thenceforth they made all possible etTorts to spread division amongst us, to incite 
us to mutual extermination; they have slandered us with the most atrocious calum- 
nies, accusing us of plotting the destruction of our holy religion, the abolition of all 
morality, and of introducing licentiousness of manners. They w;ige a religious war 
against us, contriving a thousand artifices to disturb and alarm the consciences of the 
people, making the Spanish bishops issue decrees of ecclesiastical condemnation, 
public excommunications, and disseminating, through the medium of some ignorant 
confessor, fanatxal doctrines m the tribunal of penitence. By means of these reli- 
gious discords hey have divided families against themselves ; they have caused dis- 
alfection between parents and children, they have dissolved the tender ties whicli 
unite man and v/if? ; they have spread rancor and implacable hatred between broth- 
ers, most endeared, aufl they have presumed to throw all nature into discord. 

" They have adopted the system of murdering men indiscriminately, to diminish 
our numbers ; and, on their entry into towns, they have swept otfall, even the market 
people, leading them to the open squares, and there shooting them one by one. The 
citii^s of Chuquisaca and Cochabamba have more than once been the theatres of 
these horrid slaushters. 

" They have intermixed with their troops soldiers of ours whom they had taken 
prisoners, carrying away the officers in chains, to garrisons where it is impossible to 
preserve health for a year— they have left others to die in their prisons of hunger and 
misery, and others they have forced to hard labor on the public works. They have 
extiltingly put to death our bearers of flags of truce, and have been guilty of the black- 
est atrocities to our chiefs, after they had surrendered ; as well as to other principal 
characters, in disregard of the humanity with which we treated prisoners; as a proof 
of it, witness the deputy Mutes of Potosi, the captain general Pumacagua, General 
Augulo, and his brother commandant Blunecas and other partizan chiefs, who were 
shot in cold blood, after having been prisoners for several days. 

" They took a brutal pleasure in cropping the ears of the natives of the town of 
Ville-grande, and sending a basket full of them as presents to the head quarters. 
They afterwards burnt that town, and set fire to thirty other populous towns of Peru, 
and worse than the worst of savages, shutting the inhabitants up in the houses before 
setting them on tire, that they might be burnt alive. 

" They have not only been cruel and unsparing in their mode of murder, but they 
have been void of all morality and public decency, causing aged ecclesiastics and 
women to be lashed to a gun, and publicly flogged, with the abomination of first hav- 
ing them stripped, and their nakedness exposed to shame, in the presence of their 
troops. 

'•They established an inquisitorial system in all these punishments; they have 
seized on peaceable inhabitants, and transported them across the sea, to be judged 
for suspected crimes, and they have put a great number of citizens to death every 
where, without accusation or the form of a trial. 

"They have invented a crime of unexampled horror, in poisoning our water and 
provisions, when they were conquered by General Pineto at La Paz, and in return for 
the kindness with which he treated them, after they had surrendered at discretion, 
Ihey had the barbarity to blow up the head-quaners, under which they had construct- 
ed a mine, and prepared a train beforehand. 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 69 

In the establishment, of the Independence of Spanish America, 
the United States had the deepest interest. He had no hesita- 
tion in asserting his firm belief, that there was no question in the 
foreign policy of this country, which Jiad ever arisen, or which lie 
could conceive as ever occurring, in tlie decision of which we liad 
no much at stake. This interest concerned our politics, our com- 
merce, our navigation. There could not be a doubt that Spanish / 
America, once independent, whatever might be the form of the 
governments established in its several parts, these govern- 
ments would be animated by an American feeling, and guid- 
ed by an American policy. They would obey the laws of 
the system of the New World, of which they would compose a 
part, in contradistinction to that of Europe. Without the influ- 
ence of that vortex in Europe the balance of power between its 
several parts, the preservation of Avhich had so often drenched 
Europe in blood, America is sufficiently remote to contemplate 
the new wars which are to afflict that quarter of the globe, as a 
calm, if not a cold and indifierent spectator. In relation to those 
wars, the several parts of America will generally stand neutral. 
And as, during the period when they rage, it will be im.portant 
that a liberal system of neutrality should be adopted and observ- 
ed, all America will be interested in maintaining and enforcing 
sucli a system. The independence then of Spanish America 
was tlie interest of primary consideration. Next to that, and 
highly important in itself, was the consideration of the nature of 
their governments. That was a question, however, for them 
selves. They would, no doubt, adopt those kinds of governments 
which were best suited to their condition, best calculated for 
their happiness. Anxious as he was that they should be free 
governments, we had no right to prescribe for them. They 
were, and ought to be, the sole judges for themselves. He was 
strongly inclined to believe that they would in most, if not all 
parts of their country, establish free governments. We were 

" He has branded us with the sti?ina of rebels, the moment he returned to Madrid ; 
lie refused to listen to our complaints, or to receive our supplications : and as an act 
of extreme favor, he olTered us a pardon. He confirmed the viceroys, governors and 
cenerals whom he fouud actually glutted with carnage. He declared us guilty of a 
high misdemeanor for having dared to frame a constitution for our own government, 
free from the control of a deified, absolute and tyrannical power, under which we 
had groaned three centuries; a measure that could be offensive only to a prince, an 
enemy to justice and beneficence, and consequently unv^orthy to rule over us. 

" He then undertook, with the aid of his ministers, to equip large military arma- 
ments, to be directed against us. He caused numerous armies to be sent out, to con- 
summate the work of devastation, fire and plunder. 

" He has sent his generals, with certain decrees of pardon, which they publish to 
deceive the ignorant, and induce them to facilitate their entrance into towns, whilst, 
al the same time he has given them other secret instructions, authorizing them, as 
soon as they should gel possession of a place, to hang, burn, confiscate and sack ; to 
encourage private assassinations— and to commit every species of injury in their 
power, against the deluded beings who had confided in his pretended pardon. It is 
in the name of Ferdinand of Bourbon that the heads of patriot officers, prisoners, are 
fixed up in the highways, that they heat and stoned to death a commandant of lighl 
troops, and that, after having killed Colonel Camugo, in the same manner by iha 
Uands of the indecent Centeuo, they cut off his head and sent it as a present to Gea- 
eral Pazuela, telling him it was a miracle of the virgin of the Carmelites." 



TO ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

their great example. Of us tliey constantly spoke as of brothers, 
having a similar origin. They adoi)ted our principles, copied 
our institutions, and, in many instances, employed the very lan- 
gnage and sentiments of our revolutionary papers. [Here Mr. 
Clay read a passage from the manifesto before cited.*] But it is 
sometimes said that they are too ignorant and too superstitious to 
admit of the existence of free government. Tliis charge of ig- 
norance is often urged by persons themselves actually ignorant 
of the real condition of that people. He denied the alleged fact 
of ignorance ; he denied the inference from that fact, if it were 
true, that they wanted capacity for free government ; and he re- 
fused his assent to the further conclusion, if the fact were true, 
and the inference just, that we were to be indifferent to their 
fate. All the writers of tlie most established authority, Depons, 
Humboldt, and others, concur in assigning to the people of Span- 
ish America, great quickness, genius, and particular aptitude for 
the acquisition of the exact sciences ; and otliers which they 
have been allowed to cultivate. In astronomj^, geology, miner- 
alogy, chemistry, botany, &c., they are allov/ed to make disting- 
uished proficiency. They justly boast of their Abzate, Velas- 
ques, and Garaa, and other illustrious contributors to science. 
They have nine universities, and in the city of Mexico, it is 
affirmed by Humboldt, that there are more solid scientific estab- 
lishments than in any city even of North America. He would 
refer to the message of the supreme director of La Plata, which 
he would hereafter have occasion to use for another purpose, as 
a model of fine composition of a state paper, challenging a com- 
parison with any, the most celebrated that ever issued from the 
pens of Jelferson or Madison. Gentlemen would egregiously 
err if tliey formed their opinions of the present moral condition 
of Spanish America, from what it Avas under the debasing sys- 
tem of Spain. The eight years' revolution in which it has been 
engaged, has already produced a powerful effect. 

Education had been attended to, and genius developed. [Here 
Mr. C. read a passage from the Colonial Journal, published last 
summer in Great Britain, where a disposition to exaggerate on 
that side of the question, could hardly be supposed to exist.f] 
The tact was not therefore true, that the imputed ignorance ex- 
isted; but, if it did, he repeated that he disputed the inference. 

* '• Having thpii bopn thus impelled by the Spaniards and their kin?, we have cal- 
culated all the consequencea, and have constituted ourselves independent, prepared 
to exercise the right of nature to defend ourselves against the ravages of tyranny, at 
the risk of our honor, our lives and fortune. Wo have sworn to the only king we 
acknowledee,lhe supreme Judge of the world, that we will not abandon the cause of 
justice ; tliat we will not suffer the country which he has given us to be buried in 
ruins, and inundated with blood, by ihe hands of the executioner," &,c. 

t " As soon as the pmiect of revolution arose on the shores of La Plata, genius and 
talent exhibited their inlluence; the capacity of the people became manifest, and the 
means of acquiring knowledge were soon made the favorite pursuit of the youth, As 
far as the wants or the inevitable interruption of affairs have allowed, every thing has 
been done to disseminate useful information. The liberty of the press has indeed 
met witli some occasional checks ; but in Buenos Ayres alone as many periodical 
works weekly issue from the press as in Spain and Porlugal put together." 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 71 

It was the doctrine of thrones, that man was too ignorant to gov- 
ern himself. Their partisans assert his incapacity in reference 
to all nations; if they cannot command universal assent to the 
proposition, it is then demanded as to particular nations ; and our 
pride and our presumption too often make converts of us. Mr. 
Clay contended that it was to arraign the dispositions of Provi- 
dence himself, to suppose that he had created beings incapable 
of governing themselves, and to be trampled on by kings. He 
contended that self government was the natural government of 
man, and he referred to the aborigines of our own land. If he 
were to speculate in hypotheses unfivorable to human liberty, 
his should be founded rather upon the vices, refinements, or 
density of population. Crowded together in compact masses, 
even if the}^ were philosophers, the contagion of the passions is 
communicated and caught, and the etiect too often, he admitted, 
was the overthrow of liberty. Dispersed over such an immense 
space as that on which the people of Spanish America were 
spread, their physical, and he believed also their moral condition, 
both favored their liberty. 

With regard to their superstition, Mr. Clay said, they worship- 
ped the same God with us. Their prayers were oflered up in 
their temples to the same Redeemer, whose intercession we ex- 
pected to so.ve us. Nor was there any thing in the Catholic re- 
ligion unfavorable to freedom. All religions united with govern- 
ment were more or less inimical to liberty. All separated from 
government were compatible with hberty. If the people of 
Spanisli America had not already gone as far, in religious tolera- 
tion as we had, the diiterence in their condition iroin ours should 
not be forgotten. Every thing was progressive ; and, in time he 
hoped to see them imitating, in this respect, our example. But, 
grant that the people of Spanish America are ignorant and in- 
competent for free government, to whom is that ignorance to be 
ascribed ? Is it not to the execrable system of Spain, which she 
seeks again to establish and to jDerpetuate ? So I'ar from chilling 
our hearts, it ought to increase our solicitude for our unfortunate 
brethren. It ought to animate us to desire the redemption of the 
minds and the bodies of unborn millions from the brutifying elfects 
of a system whose tendency is to stifle the faculties of the soul, 
and to degrade man to the level of beasts. He would invoke the 
spirits of our departed fathers. Was it for yourselves only that 
you nobly fought 1 No, no ! It was the chains that were forging- 
for your posterity that made you fly to arms, and scattering the 
elements of these chains to the winds, you transmitted to us the 
rich inheritance of liberty. 

The exports of Spanish America (exclusive of those of the 
islands) are estimated in the valuable little work of M. Torres, 
deserving to be better known, at about eighty-one millions of 
dollars. Of these more than three-fourths consist of the precious 
metals. The residue are cocoa, coifee, cochineal, sugar, and 
some other articles. No nation ever oiTered richer commodities 



72 ON THE EMANCIPATION OP S. AMERICA. 

in exchange. It was of no material consequence that we pro- 
duced but Httle that Spanish America wanted. Commerce, as it 
actually exists, in the hands of maritime states, was no longer 
confined to a mere barter, between any two states, of their re- 
spective productions. It rendered tributary to its interests th» 
commodities of all quarters of the world. So that a rich Ameri- 
can cargo, or the contents of an American commercial warehouse, 
presented you with whatever was rare or valuable in every part 
of the globe. Commerce was not to be judged by its results in 
transactions with one nation only. Unfavorable balances exist- 
ing with one state are made up by contrary balances with other 
states. And its true value should be tested by the totality of its 
operations. Our greatest trade — that with Great Britain, judged 
by the amount of what we sold for her consumption, and what 
we bought of her for ours, would be pronounced ruinous. But 
the unfavorable balance was covered by the profits of trade with 
other nations. We may safely trust to the daring enterprize of 
our merchants. The precious metals are in South America, and 
they will command the articles wanted in South America, which 
will purchase them. Our navigation will be benefitted by tlae 
transportation, and our country will realize the mercantile pro- 
fits. Already the item in our exports of American manufactures 
is respectable. They go chiefly to the West Indies and to 
Spanish America. This item is constantly augmenting. And 
he would again, as he had on another occasion, ask gentlemen 
to elevate themselves to the actual importance and greatness 
of our republic ; to reflect, like true American statesmen, that 
we were not legislating for the present day only; and to con- 
template this country in its march to true greatness, when mil- 
lions and milhons will be added to our population, and when the 
increased productive industry will furnisji an infinite variety of 
fabrics for foreign consumption, in order to svipply our OAvn 
wants. The distribution of the precious metals has hitherto 
been principally made through the circuitous channel of Cadiz. 
No one can foresee all the eti'ects which will result from a direct 
distribution of them from the mines Avhich produce them. One 
of these effects will probably be to give us the entire command 
of the Indian trade. The advantage we have on the map of 
tlie world over Europe, in that respect, is prodigious. Again, 
if England, persisting in her colonial monopoly, continued to 
occlude her ports in the West Indies to us, and we should, as he 
contended we ought, meet her system by a countervailing mea- 
sure, Venezuela, New Grenada, and other parts of Spanish 
America, would afford us all we get from the British West In- 
dies. He confessed that he despaired, for the present, of adopt- 
ing that salutary measure. It was proposed at the last session, 
*and postponed. It was during the present session again pro- 
posed, and, he feared, would be again postponed. He saw, and 
he owned it with infinite regret, a tone and a feeling in the coun- 
sels of the country infmitely below that which belonged to the 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA- 73 

country. It was perhaps the moral consequence of the exer- 
tions of the late war. We are alarmed v.'c dangers, we know not 
what; by spectres conjured up by our own vivid imaginations. 

The West India bill is brought up. We shrug our shoulders, 
talk of restrictions, non-intercourse, embargo, commercial war- 
fare, make long faces, and — postpone tlie bill. Tlie time will 
however come, must come, when this country will not submit to 
a commerce with the British colonies upon the terms which Eng- 
land alone prescribes. And, he repeated, that, when it arrived, 
Spanish America would afibrd us an ample substitute. Then, 
as to our navigation; gentlemen should recollect that, if reason- 
ing from past experience Avere safe for the future, our greai 
commercial rival will be in war a greater number of years than 
she will be in peace. Whenever she shall be at war, and we 
are in peace, our navigation, being free from the rislcs and in- 
surance incident to war, we shall engross almost the whole 
transportation of the Spanish American commerce. For he did 
not believe that that country would ever have a considerable 
marine. Mexico, the most populous part of it, had but two ports. 
La Vera Cruz and Acapulca, and neither of them very good. 
Spanish America had not the elements to construct a marine. 
It wanted, and must always want, hardy seamen. He did not 
believe that, in the present improved state ol" navigation, any 
nations so far south would ever make a figure as maritime pow- 
ers. If Carthage and Rome, in ancient times, and some other 
states of a later period, occasionally made great exertions on 
the water, it must be recollected that they were principally on a 
small theatre, and in a totally different state of the art of navi- 
gation, or when there was no competition from northern states. 

He was aware that, in opposition to the interest which he had 
been endeavoring to manifest, that this country had in the inde- 
pendence of Spanish America, it Avas contended that we should 
find that country a great rival in agricultural productions. — 
There was something so narrow and selfish and grovelling in 
this argument, if founded in fact, something so unworthy the 
magnanimity of a great and a generous people, that he con- 
fessed he had scarcely patience to notice it. But it was not true 
to any extent. Of the eighty odd millions of exports, only about 
one million and a half consisted of an article which might come 
into competition with vis, and that was cotton. The tobacco 
which Spain derived from her colonies was chiefly produced in 
her islands. Bread stuffs could no where be raised and brought 
to market in any amount materially affecting us. The table 
lands of Mexico, owing to tlieir elevation, were, it was true, w^ 
adapted to the culture of grain; but the expense and difficulty 
of getting it to the gulf of Mexico, and the action o£ the intense 
heat at La Vera Cruz, the only port of exportation, must always 
prevent Mexico from being an alarming competitor. Spanish 
America was capable of producing articles so much more valua- 
7 



74 ON THE EMANCIPATION OP S. AMERICA. 

ble than those which we raised, that it was not probable they 
would abandon a more profitable tor a less advantageous cul- 
ture, to come into competition with us. The West India islands 
were well adapted to the raising of cotton; and yet the more 
valuable culture of coflee and sugar was constantly preferred. 
Again, Providence had so ordered it, that, with regard to coun- 
tries producing articles apparently similar, there was some pe- 
culiarity, resulting from climate, or from some other cause, that 
gave to each an appropriate place in the general wants and 
consumption of mankind. The southern part of the continent, 
La Plata and Chili, was too remote to rival us. 

The immense country, watered by the Mississippi and it»5 
branches, had a peculiar interest, which he trusted he should be 
excused for noticing. Having but the single vent of New-Or- 
leans, for all the surplus produce of their industry, it was quite 
evident that they would have a greater security for enjoying the 
advantages of that outlet, if the independence of Mexico upon 
any European power were eil'ected. Sucli a power, owning 
at the same time Cuba, the great key of the gulf of Mexico, 
and all the shores of that gulf, with the exception of the portion 
between the Perdido and the Rio del Norte, must have a power- 
ful command over our interests. Spain, it was true, was not a 
dangerous neighbor at present, but, in the vicissitudes of states, 
her power might be again resuschated. 

Mr. C. continued. Having shown that the cause of the pa- 
triots was just, and that we had a great interest in its successful 
issue, he would next inquire what course of policy it became us 
to adopt. He had already declared that to be one of strict and 
impartial neutrality. It was not necessary ibr their interests, it 
was not expedient for our own, that we should take part in the 
war. All they demanded of us was a just neutrality. It was 
compatible with this pacific policy — it was retjuired by it, that 
we should recognize any established government, if there were 
any established government in Spanish America. Recognition 
alone, without aid, was no just cause of war. With aid, it was, 
not because of the recognition, but because of the aid, as aid, 
without recognition, was cause of war. The truth of these 
propositions he would maintain upon principle, by the practice 
of other states, and by the usage of our own. There was no 
common tribunal, among nations, to pronounce vipon the fact 
of the sovereignty of a new state. Each power does and must 
judge for itself. It was an attribute of sovereignly so to judge. 
A nation, in exerting this incontestible right — in pronouncing 
upon the independence, in fact, of a new state, takes no part in 
the war. It gives neither men, nor ships, nor money. It merely 
pronounces that, in so far as it may be necessary to institute any 
relations, or to support any intercourse, with the new power, 
that power is capable of maintaining those relations, and author- 
izing that intercourse. Martens and other publicists lay down 
these principles. 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 75 

When the United Provinces formerly severed themselves from 
Spain, it was about eighty years before their independence was 
finally recognized by Spain. Before that recognition, the Uni- 
ted Provinces had been received by all the rest of Europe into 
the family of nations. It is true that a war broke out between 
Philip and Elizabeth, but it proceeded from the aid which she 
determined to give, and did give, to PloUand. In no instance, 
he believed, could it be shown, from authentic history, that Spain 
made war upon any power on the sole ground that such power 
had acknowledged the independence of the United Provinces. 

In the case of our own revolution, it was not until after France 
had given us aid, and had determined to enter into a treaty of 
alliance with us — a treaty by which she guarantied our in- 
dependence — that England declared war. Holland also was 
charged by England with favoring our cause, and deviating 
from the line of strict neutrality. And, when it was perceived that 
she was moreover about to enter into a treaty with us, England 
declared war. Even if it were shown that a proud, haughty and 
powerful nation, like England, had made war upon other provinces 
on the ground of a mere recognition, the single example could 
not alter the public law, or shake the strength of a clear principle. 

But what had been our uniform practice ? We had constantly 
proceeded on the principle, that the government de facto was 
that we could alone notice. Whatever form of government any 
society of people adopts ; whoever they acknowledge as tlieir 
sovereign, we consider that government or that sovereign as the 
one to be acknowledged by ns. We have invariably abstained 
from assuming a right to decide in favor of the sovereign de ju- 
re, and against the sovereign de facto. That is a question for 
the nation in which it arises to determine. And so far as we are 
concerned, the sovereign de facto is the sovereign dejiire. Our 
own revolution stands on the basis of the right of a people to 
diange their rulers. He did not maintain that every immature 
revolution — every usurper, before his power was consolidated, 
was to be acknowledged by us ; but that as soon as stability and 
order were maintained, no matter by whom, we always had con- 
sidered, and ought to consider the actual as the true government. 
General Washington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, had all, whilst 
they were respectively presidents, acted on these principles. 

In the case of the French republic. Gen. Washington did not 
wait until some of the crowned heads of Europe should set him 
the example of acknowledging it, but accredited a minister at 
once. And it is remarkable that he was received before the gov- 
ernment of the republic was considered as established. It will 
be found, in Marshall's life of Washington, that when it was un- 
derstood that a minister from the French republic was about to 
present himself, President Washington submitted a number of 
questions to his cabinet for their consideration and advice, one 
of which was, whether, upon the reception of the minister, he 
should be notified that America would suspp"^i the execution of 



76 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

the treaties between the two countries until France had an es- 
tabhshed government. Gen. Washington did not stop to inquire 
whether the descendants of St. Louis were to be considered as 
the legitimate sovereigns of France, and if the revolution was 
to be regarded as unauthorized resistance to their sway. He 
saw France, in fact, under the government of tliosc who liad sub- 
verted the throne ot' the Bourbons, and he acknowledged the ac- 
tual government. During Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's 
administrations, when the Cortes of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte 
respectively contended for the crown, those enlightened states- 
men said, we will receive a minister from neither party ; settle 
the question between yourselves, and we will acknowledge the 
party that prevails. We have nothing to do with your Teuds; 
whoever all Spain acknowledges as her sovereign, is the only 
sovereign with whom we can maintain any relations. Mr. Jef- 
ferson, it is understood, considered whether he should not receive 
a minister from both parties, and finally decided against it, be- 
cause of the inconveniences to this countrj', which might result 
from the double representation of another power. As soon as 
tlie French armies were expelled from the Peninsula, Mr. Madi- 
son, still acting on the principle of the government cle faclG, re- 
ceived the present minister irom Spain. During all the phases 
of the French government, republic, directory, consuls, consul 
for life, emperor, king, emperor again, king, our government has 
uniformly received the minister. 

If, then, there be an established government in Spanish Ameri- 
ca, deserving to rank among the nations, we were morally and 
politically bound to acknowledge it, unless we renounced all the 
principles which ought to guide, and which hitherto had guided, 
our councils. Mr. C. then undertook to show, that the united 
provinces of the Rio de la Plata possessed such a government. 
Its limits, he said, extending from the south Atlantic ocean to the 
Pacific, embraced a territory equal to that of the United States, 
certainly equal to it, exclusive of Louisiana. Its population was 
about three millions, more than equal to ours at the commence- 
ment of our revolution. That population was a hardy, enterpri- 
sing and gallant population. The estabhshments of Monte Video 
and Buenos Ayres had, during different periods of their history, 
been attacked by the French, Dutch, Danes. Portuguese, English 
and Spanish ; and such was the martial character of the people, 
that in every instance the attack had been repulsed. In 1807, 
General Wliitlocke, commandmg a powerful English army, was, 
admitted, under the guise of a friend, into Buenos Ayres, and as 
soon as he was supposed to have demonstrated inimical designs, 
he was driven by the native and unaided force of Buenos Ayres 
from the country. Buenos Ayres had, during now nearly eight 
years, been in point of fact in the enjoyment of self-government. 
The capital, containing more than sixty thousand inhabitants. 
has never been once lost. As early as ISU, the regency of Old 
Spain made war upon Buenos Ayres, and the consequence sub- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 77 

peqnently was, tlie capture of a Spanish army in Monte Video, 
equal to that of Bargoyne. This government has now, in excel- 
lent disciphne, three well appointed armies, with the most abun- 
dant material of war ; the army of Chili — the army of Peru, and 
the army of Buenos Ayres. The first under San Martin, has 
conquered Chili ; the second is penetrating in a north-western 
direction from Buenos Ayres, into the vice-royalty of Peru ; and 
according to the last accounts, had reduced the ancient seat of 
empire of the Incas. The third remains at Buenos Ayres to op- 
pose any force which Spain may send against it. To show the 
condition of the country in July last, Mr. C. again called the at- 
tention of the conmiittee to the message of the supreme director, 
delivered to the Congress of the United Provinces. It was a 
paper of the same authentic character with the speech of the 
king of England on opening his parliament, or the message of 
the~President of the United States, at the commencement of 
Congress.* There was a spirit of bold confidence running 

* The following are the passaires read by Mr. Clay. 

"The army of this capital was orsanizeJ at the same lime with those of the Ancles 
and of the interior; the retrular fcrce has been nearly doubled: the militia has made 
great procress in military discipline ; our slave population has been formed into bat- 
talions, and tausht the military art as far as is consistent with their condition. The 
capital is under no apprehension that an army of ten thousand men can shake its 
liberties, and should the Pcninsularians send against us thrice that number, ample 
provision has been made to receive them. 

"Our navy has been fistered in all its branches. The scarcity of means under 
which we labored until now, has not prevented us from undertaking very considera- 
ble operations, with respect to the national vessels; all of them have been repaired, 
and others have been purchased and armed, for the defence of our coasts and rivers : 
provisions have been made, should necessity require it, for arming many more, so 
that the enemy will not find himself secure from our reprisals even upon the ocean. 

" Our military firce, at every point vihich it occupies, seems to be animated with 
the same spirit; its tactics are unif irm, and have undergone a rapid improvement 
from the science of experience, which it has borrowed from warlike nations. 

•' Our arsenals have been replenished with arms, and a sufficient store of cannon 
and munitions of war have been provided to maintain the contest for many years: anil 
this, after havinsr supplied articles of every description to those districts, which have 
not as yet come into the union, but whose connexion with us has been only intercept- 
ed by reason of our past misfortunes. 

"Our legions daily receive considerable' augmentations from new levies; all our 
preparations have been made, as though we were about to enter upon the conies'. 
anew. Until now, the vaslness of our resources was unknown to us, and our ene- 
mies may contemplate, with deep mortification and despair, the present flourishing 
elate of these provinces after so many devastations. 

"Whilst thus occupied in providing for our safety within, and prenaring for assaults 
from without, other objects of solid interest have not been neglected, and which hith- 
erto were thixight to oppose insurmountable obstacles. 

''Our system of finance had hitherto been on a fooling entirely inadequate to the 
unfailing supply of our wants, and still more to the liquidation of the immense deb*, 
which had been contracted in f:irmer years. An unremitted application to this ob- 
ject has enabled me to create the means of satisfying the creditors of the state, who 
had already abandoned their debts as lost, as well as to devise a fixed mode, by which 
the taxes may be made to fall equally and indirectly on the whole mass of our popu- 
lation; it is not the least merit of this operation, that it has been etfected in despite 
of the writings by which it was attacked, and which are but little creditable to the 
intelligence and good intentions of their authors. At no other period have the public 
exigences been so punctually suoplied, nor have more important works been under- 
taken. 

" The people, moreover, have been relieved from many burdens, which being par- 
tial, or confined lo particular classes, had occasioned vexation and disgust. Other vex- 



/ 



78 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

througli this fine state paper, which nothing but conscious strength 
could communicate. Their armies, their magazines, their finan- 
ces, were on the most soHd and respectable footing. And, amidst 
all the cares of war, and those incident to the consolidation of 
their new institutions, leisure was found to promote the interests 
of science, and the education of the rising generation. It was 
true, that the first part of the message portrayed scenes of diffi- 
culty and commotion, the usual attendants upon revolution. The 
very avowal of their troubles manifested, however, that they were 
subdued. And what state, passing through the agitations of a 
great revolution, Avas free from them ? We had our tories, our 
intrigues, our factions. More than once were the affections of 
the country, and the confidence of our councils, attempted to be 
shaken in "the great father of our liberties. Not a Spanish bay- 
onet remains within the immense extent of the territories of La 
Plata to contest the authority of the actual government. It is 
free, it is independent — it is sovereign. It manages the interests 
of the society that submits to its sway. It is capable of main- 
taining the relations between that society and other nations. 

Are we not bound, then, upon our own principles, to acknow- 
ledge this new republic? If we do not, who will? Are we to 
expect that kings will set us the example of acknowledging the 
only republic on earth, except our own? We receive, promptly 
receive, a minister from whatever king sends us one. From the 
great powers, and the little powers, we accredit ministers. Wu 
do more : we hasten to reciprocate the compliment ,• and anx- 
ious to manifest our gratitude for royal civility, we send for a 
minister (as in the case of Sweden and the Netherlands) of the 
lowest grade, one of the highest rank recognized by our laws. 

alions scarcely less grievous, will by degrees be also suppressed, avoiding as far as 
possible a recurrence lo loans, which have drawn after them the moat fatal conse" 
(juences lo stales. Should we, liowever, be compelled lo resort lo such expedients, 
Ui8 lenders will not see themselves in danger of losing their advances. 

''Many undertakings have been set on fool for the advancement of the general 
prosperity. Sucli has been the re-establishins of the college, heretofore named San 
Carlos, but hereafter lo be called the Union of the South, as a point designated for the 
dissemination of learning to the youth of every part of the slate, on tlie most e.'iien- 
sive scale, for the attainment of which object the government is at the present mo- 
ment engaied in putting in practice every possible diligence. It will not be long 
before these nurseries will flourish, in which the liberal and exact sciences will be 
cultivated, in which the hearts of those young men will be foniied, who are destined 
at some future day to add new splendor to our country. 

" Such has been the establishment of a military depot on the frontier, with its spa- 
cious magazine, a necessary measure to guard us from iuture dangers, a work which 
does more Iwnor to the prudent f )resight of our country, as it was undertaken in the 
moment of its prosperous fortunes, a measure which must give more occiision for re- 
Uftction to our enemies, ihan they can iuipose upon us by their boastings. 

•'Fellow-citizens, we owe our unliappy reverses and calamities to the depraving 
system of our ancient metropolis, which in condemning us lo the obscurity ahd op- 
probrium of the rmsL degraded destiny, has sown with tliorns tlie path that conducts 
us lo liberty. Tell that metropolis that even slie may glory in your works I Already 
have you cleared all the rocks, escaped every danger, and conducted tliese provinces 
lo the (lourisliing coudii.ion in whicll we now behold them. Let the enemies of your 
name contemplate with despair the energies of your virlue.s, and let the nations ac- 
knowledge Ihat you already appertain to iheir illustrious rank. Let us felicitate our- 
selves on the blessings we have already obtained, and let us show lo the world that, 
we have learned to profit by the experie.ico of our past mislbriunes." 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMErvICA. 79 

We were the natural head of the American family. He would 
not intermeddle in the affairs of Europe. We wisely kept 
aloof from their broils. He would not even intermeddle in 
tliose of other parts of America, farther tlian to exert the incon- 
testible rights appertaining to us as a Iree, sovereign, and inde- 
pendent power ; and, he contended, that the accrediting of a mi- 
nister from the new republic was such a right. We were bound 
to receive their minister, if we meant to be really neutral. If 
the royal belligerent were represented and heard at our govern- / 
ment, the republican belligerent ought also to be heard. Oth-;^,-^ 
erwise, one party would be in the condition of the poor patriots 
who Avere tried e.v parte tlie other day in the Supreme Court, with- 
out counsel, without friends. Give Mr. Onis hisconge, or receive the 
republican minister. Unless you do so, your neutrality is nominal. 
Mr. C. next proceeded to inquire into the consequences of a 
recognition of the new republic. Will it involve us in war with 
Spain? He had shown, he trusted, successfully shown, that 
there was no just cause of war to Spain. Being no cause of 
war, we had no riglit to expect that war would ensue. If Spain, 
without cause, would make war, she may make it whether we 
do or do not acknowledge the republic. But she would not, be- 
cause she could not, make war again.st us. He called the atten- 
tion of the conmiittee to a report ol' the minister of the Hacienda 
to the king of Spain, presented about eight months ago. A 
more beggarly accoant of empty boxes, Mr. C. said, was never 
rendered. The picture of Mr. Dallas, sketched in his celebra- 
ted report during the last war, may be contemplated without 
emotion, after surveying that of Mr. Gary. The expenses of 
the current year required eight hundred and thirty millions two 
hundred and sixty-seven thousand eight hundred and twenty- 
nine of reals, and the deficit of the income is represented as two 
hundred and thirty-three millions one hundred and forty thou- 
sand nine hundred and tliirty-two of reals. This, besides an im- 
mense mass of unliquidated debt, which the minister acknow- 
ledges the utter inability of the country to pay, although bound 
in honor to redeem it. He states that the vassals of the king 
are totally unable to submit to any new taxes, and the country 
is without credit, so as to render anticipation by loans wholly im- 
practicable. Mr. Gary appears to be a virtuous man, who exhi- 
bits frankly the naked truth ; and yet such a minister acknow- 
ledges, that the decorum due to one single lamily, that of the 
monarch, does not admit, in this critical condition of his country, 
any reduction of the enormous sum of upwards of fifty-six mill- 
ions of reals, set apart to defray the expenses of that family ! 
He states that a foreign war would be the greatest of all calami- 
ties, and one which, being unable to provide for it, they ought 
to employ every j^ossible means to avert. He proposed some in- 
considerable contribution from the clergy, and the whole body 
was instantly in an uproar. Indeed, Mr. C. had no doubt, that, 
surrounded as Mr. Gary was, by corruption, by intrigue, and 



80 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

folly, and imbecility, he would be compelled to retire, if he had 
not already been dismissed, from a post for which he had too 
much integrity. It had been now about four years since the re- 
storation of Ferdinand ; and if, during that period, the whole 
energies of the monarchy had been directed unsuccessfully 
against the weakest and most vulnerable of all the American 
possessions, Venezuela, how was it possible for Spain to encoun- 
ter the difficulties of a new war with this country ? Morillo had 
been sent out with one of the finest armies that had ever left the 
shores of Europe — consisting of ten thousand men, chosen from 
all the veterans who had fought in the Peninsula. It had sub- 
sequently been reinforced with about three thousand more. And 
yet, during the last summer, it was reduced, by the sword and 
the climate, to about four thousand effective men. And Venezu- 
ela, containing a population of only about one million, of which 
near two-thirds Avere persons of color, remained unsubdued. The 
httle island of Margaritta, whose population was less than twenty 
tliousand inhabitants — a population fighting for liberty with 
more than Roman valor — had compelled that army to retire upon 
tlae main. Spain, by the late accounts, appeared to be delibera- 
ting upon the necessity of resorting to that measure of conscrip- 
tion for which Bonaparte had been so much abused. The eflfect 
of a war with this country would be to ensure success, beyond 
all doubt, to the cause of American independence. Those parts 
even, over which Spain has some prospect of maintaining lier 
dominions, would probably be put in jeopardy. Such a war 
would be attended with the immediate and certain loss of Flo- 
rida. Commanding the Gulf of Mexico, as we should be ena- 
bled to do by our navy, blockading the port of Havana, the port 
of La Vera Cruz, and the coast of Terra Firma, and throwing 
munitions of war into Mexico, Cuba would be menaced — Mex- 
ico emancipated — and Morillo's army deprived of supplies, now 
drawn principally from this country through the Havana, compel- 
led to surrender. The war, he verily believed, would be termina- 
ted in less than two years, supposing no other power to interpose. 
Will the allies interfere '? If, by the exertion of an unques- 
tionable attribute of a sovereign power, we should give no just 
cause of war to Spain herself, how could it be pretended that we 
should furnish even a specious pretext to tlie allies for making 
war upon us ? On wliat ground could they attempt to justify a 
rupture with us, for the exercise of a right which we hold in 
common with them, and with every other independent state? 
But we have a surer g\iarant,ee against their hostility, in their 
interests. That all the allies, who have any foreign commerce, 
have an interest in the independence of Spanish America, was 
perfectly evident. On what ground, he asked, was it likely, then, 
that they would support Spain, in opposition to their own deci- 
ded interest? To crush the spirit of revolt, and prevent the pro- 
gress of free principles ? Nations, like individuals, do not sen- 
sibly feel, and seldom act upon dangers which are remote either 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 81 

in time or place. Of Spanish America, but little is known by 
the great body of the population of Europe. Even in tliia 
country, the most astonishing ignorance prevails respecting, 
them. Those European statesmen who were acquainted with 
the country, would reflect, that, tossed by a great revolution, it 
would most probably constitute four or five several nations, and 
that the ultimate modification of all their various governments 
v.-as by no xncans absolutely certain. But, Mr. C. said, he en- 
tertained no doubt that the principle of cohesion among the al- 
lies vvas gone. It was annihilated in the memorable battle of 
Waterloo. When the question was, whether one should engross 
all, a common danger united all. How long was it, even with a 
clear perception of that danger, before an eft'ective coalition could 
be formed '? How often did one power stand by, unmoved and 
indiilerent to the fate of its neighbor, although the destruction 
of that neighbor removed the only barrier to an attack upon it- 
self? No ; the consummation of the cause of the allies was, 
and all history and all experience would prove it, the destruction 
of tlie alliance. The principle was totally changed. It was no 
longer a common struggle against the colossal power of Bona- 
parte, but it became a common scramble for the spoils of his em- 
pire. There may, indeed, be one or two points on which a com- 
mon interest still exists, such as the convenience of subsisting 
tlicir armies on the vitals of poor suftering France. But as for 
action — for new enterprises, there was no principle of unity, 
there could be no accordance of interests, or of view^s, among 
tiiem. 

What Avas the condition in which Europe was left after all its 
efforts ? It was divided into two great powers, one having the 
undisputed command of the land — the other of the water. Paris 
was transferred to St. Petersburgh, and the navies of Europe 
were at the bottom of the sea, or concentrated in the ports of Eng- 
land. Russia — that huge land animal — awing by the dread of 
her vast power all continental Europe, was seeking to encompass 
the Porte ; and constituting herself the kraken of the ocean, was 
anxious to lave her enormous sides in the more genial waters of 
the Mediterranean. It was said, he knew, that she had indicated 
a disposition to take part with Spain. No such thing. She had 
sold some old worm-eaten, decayed fir-built ships to Spain, but 
the crews which navigated them, were to return from the port of 
delivery, and the bonus she was to get, he believed to be the 
island of Minorca, in conformity with the cardinal point of her 
policy. France was greatly interested in whatever would extend 
her commerce, and regenerate her marine, and consequently, 
more than any other power of Europe, England alone excepted, 
was concerned in the independence of Spanish America. He 
did not despair of France, so long as France had a legislative 
body, collected from all its parts, the great repository of its 
wishes and its will. Already had that body manifested a spirit 
of consider able indepeadence. And those who, conversant with. 



83 OxN THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

French, history, knew what magnanimous stands had been made 
by the pariiaments, bodies of hmited extent, against the royal 
prerogative, would be able to appreciate justly the moral force 
of such a legislative body. Whilst it exists, the true interests of 
France will be cherished and pursued on points of foreign policy, 
in opposition to the pride and interests of the Bourbon family, if 
the actual dynasty, impelled by this pride, should seek to sub- 
serve these interests. 

England finds that, after all her exertions, she is every where 
despised on the continent; her maritime power viewed with 
jealousy ; her commerce subjected to the most onerous restric- 
tions ; selfishness imputed to all her policy. All the accounts 
from France represent that every party, Bonapartists, Jacobins, 
Royalists, Moderes, Ultras, all burn with indignation towards 
England, and pant for an opportunity to avenge themselves on 
the power to whom they ascribe all their disasters. 

[Here Mr. C. read a part of a letter which he had just received 
from an intelligent friend at Paris, and which composed only a 
small portion of a mass of evidence to the same effect, which had 
come under his notice.] It was impossible, he said, that with 
powers, between whom so much cordial dislike, so much incon- 
gruity existed, there could be any union or concert. Whilst the 
free principles of the French revolution remained ; those prin- 
ciples which were so alarming to the stability of thrones, there 
never had been any successful or cordial union ; coalition after 
coahtion, wanting the spirit of union, was swept away by the 
overwhelming power of France. It was not until those prin- 
ciples were abandoned and Bonaparte had erected on their ruins 
his stupendous fabric of universal empire — nor indeed until af\er 
the frosts of Heaven favored the cause of Europe, that an effec- 
tive coalition was formed. No, said Mr. C, the complaisance 
inspired in the allies from unexpected, if not undeserved success, 
might keep them nominally together ; but for all purposes ot 
united and combined action, the alliance was gone ; and he did 
not believe in the chimera of their crusading against the inde- 
pendence of a country, whose liberation would essentially pro- 
mote all their respective interests. 

But the question of the interposition of the allies, in the event 
of our recognizing the new republic, resolved itself into a ques- 
tion whether England, in such event, would make war upon us: 
if it could be shown that England would not, it resulted either 
that the other allies would not^or that, if they should, in which case 
England would most probably support the cause of America, it 
would be a war without the maritime ability to maintain it. He 
contended that England was alike restrained by her honor and 
by her interest from waging war against us, and consequently 
against Spanish America, also for an acknowledgment of the 
independence of the new state. England has encouraged and 
fomented the revolt of the colonies as early as June, ]797. Sir 
Thomas Picton, governor of Trinidad, in virtue of orders from 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OP S. AMERICA. 83 

the British minister of foreign affairs, issued a proclamation, in 
which lie expre ssly assures the inhabitants of Terra Firma, that the 
British government will aid in establishing their independence.* 
In the prosecution of the same object. Great Britain defrayed 
tlie expenses of the famous expedition of Miranda. England, in 
1811, when she was in the most intimate relations with Spain, 
then struggling against the French power, assumed the attitude 
of a mediator between the colonies and the peninsula. The 
terms on which she conceived her mediation could alone be 
effectual were rejected by the Cortes, at the lowest state of the 
Spanish power. Among these terms, England required for the 
colonies a perfect freedom of commerce, allowing only some 
degree of preference to Spain ; that the appointments of viceroys 
and governors should be made indiscriminately from Spanish 
Americans and Spaniards ; and tliat the interior govermnent, 
and every branch of public administration, should be entrusted 
to the cabildo, or municipalities, &c. If Spain, when Spain was 
almost reduced to the island of St. Leon, then rejected those con- 
ditions, would she now consent to them, amounting, as they do, 
Bubstantially, to the independence of Spanish America? If 
England, devoted as she was at that time to the cause of the Pe- 
ninsula, even then thought those terms due to the colonies, would 
she now, when no particular motive existed for cherishing the 
Spanish power, and after the ingratitude with which Spain has 
treated her, think that the colonies ought to submit to less 
favorable conditions ? And v»^ould not England stand disgraced 
in the eyes of the whole world, if, after having abetted and ex- 
cited a revolution, she should now attempt to reduce the colonies 
to unconditional submission, or should make war upon us for ac- 
knowledging that independence which she herself sought to 
establisli'? 

No guarantee for the conduct of nations or individuals ought tx) 
be stronger than that which honor imposes ; but for those who 
would put no confidence in its obligations, he had an argument 
to urge of more conclusive force. It was founded upon the in- 
terests of England. Excluded almost as she is from the conti- 
nent, the commerce of America, south and north, is worth to her 
more than the commerce of the residue of the world. That to 
all Spanish America, had been alone estimated at fifteen millions 
sterling. Its aggregate value to Spanish America and the 
United States, might be fairly stated at upwards of one hun- 
dred millions of dollars. The effect of a war with the two coun- 
tries would be to divest England of this great interest, at a mo- 
ment when she is anxiously engaged in repairing the ravages of 

«' The following is tho passage read : 

" With regard to the hope you entertain of raising the spirits of those persons with 
whom you are in correspondence, towards encouraging the inhabitants to resist the 
oppress! Ye authority of their government, I have little more to say than that they may 
be certain that whenever they are in that disposition, they may receive at yonrliaads, 
all the succors to be expected from his Britannic Majesty, be it with forces or with 
arras «nd ammunition to any extent ; with the assurance that the views of his Beit- 
aanicMajesty go no further than to secure to them their independence," &,c. 



84 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

the European war. Looking to the present moment onlj'', and 
merely to the interests of commerce, England is concerned more 
than even this country in thesucccssof the cause of independence 
in Spanish America. The reduction of the Spanisli power in 
America has heen the constant and favorite aim of her policy for 
two centuries — she must blot out her whole history, reverse the 
maxims of all her illustrious statesmen ; extinguish the spirit of 
commerce which animates, directs and controls all her move- 
ments, before she can render herself accessary to the subjuga- 
tion of Spanish America. No commercial advantages which 
Spain might offer by treaty, could possess the securitj^ for her 
tjade, which independence would communicate. The one 
would be most probably of limited duration, and liable to viola- 
tion from policjr, irom interest or trom caprice. The other would 
be as permanent as independence. That he did not mistake the 
views of the British cabinet, the recent proclamation of the 
prince regent he thought proved. — Tlie committee would remark 
that that document did not describe the patriots as rebels or in- 
surgents, but, using a term which he had no doubt had been well 
weighed, it declared the existence of a " state of warfare." And 
with regard to English subjects, who were in the armies of 
Spain, although they had entered the service without restriction 
as to their military duties, it required that Ihey should not take 
part against tlie colonies. The subjects of England freely sup- 
plied the patriots vv^ith arms and ammunition, and an honorable 
friend of his (Col. Johnson,) had just received a letter from one 
of the West India islands, stating the arrival there from England 
of the skeletons of three regiments, with many of the men to fill 
them, destined to aid the patriots. In the (Quarterly Review of 
November last, a journal devoted to tlie ministry, and a work of 
the highest authority, as it respects their views — the policy of 
neutrality is declared and supported as the true policy of Eng- 
land ; and that, even if the United States were to take part in the 
war ; and Spain is expressly notified that she cannot and must 
not expect aid from England.* In the case of the struggle be- 

* " In arsiiins therefure for the advantasrs ofaslrict neutrality, we must enter an 
early protest against any imputations of hosl^ility to the cause of genuine freedom, or of 
any passion f .r despotism and the Inquisition. We are no more the panegyrists of 
legitimate authority in all times, circumstances, and situations, than we are advo- 
cates for revolution in the abstract," &c. " But it has been plausibly asserted, that by 
abstaining from interference in the atl'airs of South America we are surrendering to 
the United States all the advantages which might be secured to ourselves from this 
revolution ; that we are assisting to increase the trade and power of a nation which 
alone can ever be the maritime rival of England. It appears to us extremely doubt- 
ful whether any advantage, commercial or political, can be lost tn England by a 
neutral conduct; it must be observed that the United States themselves have given 
every public proof of their intention to pursue the same line of policy. But admit- 
ting tliat this conduct is nothing more than a decent pretext; or admitting still far- 
ther, that they will affjrd to the Independents direct and open assistance, our view of 
the case would remain precisely the same,"' &c. " To persevere in force, unaided, is 
to miscalculate her (Spain's) own resources, even to infatuation. To expect the aid of 
an ally in such a cause would, if that ally were England, be to suppose this country 
as forgetful of its own past history as of its innnediate interests and duties. Far better 
woulJilbe for Spain, instead of calling for our aid, to profit by our experience; and to 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OP S. AMERICA. S5 

tween Spain and her colonies, England, for once at least, had 
manifested a degree of wisdom highly deserving our imitation, 
but unfortunately the very reverse of her course had been pur- 
sued by us. She had so conducted, by operating upon the hopes 
of the two parties, as to keep on the best terms with both — to 
enjoy all the advantages of the rich commerce of both. We 
had, by a neutrality bill containing unprecedented features ; and 
still more by a late executive measure, to say the least of it, of 
doubtful constitutional character, contrived to dissatisfy both 
parties. We had the confidence neither of Spain nor the colo- 

^nies. 

Nj^ Mr. Clay said, it remained for him to defend the proposition 
which he meant to submit, from an objection, which he had 
heard intimated, that it interfered with the duties assigned to the 
executive branch. On this subject he felt the greatest solicita- 
tion ; for no man more than himself respected the preservation 
of the independence of the several departments of government, 
in the constitutional orbits which were prescribed to them. It 
Avas his favorite maxim, that each, acting within its proper 
sphere, should move with its constitutional independence, and 
under its constitutional responsibility, without influence from any 
other. He was perfectly aware that the consUtulion of the Uni- 
ted States, and he admitted the proposition in its broadest sense, 
confided to the executive the reception and the deputation of 
ministers. But, in relation to the latter operation. Congress had 
concurrent will, in the power of providing for the payment of their 
salaries. " The instrument no where said or implied that the 
executive act of sending a minister to a foreign country should 
precede the legislative act which shall provide for the payment 
of his salary. And, in point of fact, our statutory code was full 
of examples of legislative action prior to executive action, both 
in relation to the deputation of agents abroad, and to the subject- 
matter of treaties. Perhaps the act of sending a minister 
abroad, and the act providing for the allowance of his salary, 
ought to be simultaneous; but if, in the order of precedence, 
there were more reason on the one side than on the other, he 
thought it was in favor of the priority of the legislative act, as 
the safer depository of power. When a minister is sent abroad, 
although the Legislature may be disposed to think his mission 
useless — although, if previously consulted, they would have said 
they would not consent to pay such a minister, the duty is deli- 
cate and painful to refuse to pay the salary promised to him 
whom the executive has even unnecessarily sent abroad. Mr. 
C. illustrated his ideas by the existing missions to Sweden and 
to the Netherlands. He had no hesitation in saying, that if we 
had not ministers of the first grade there, and if the Legislature 

substitute ere it be too late, for efforts like those by which the North Amercian colonies 
were lost to this country, the conciliatory measures by which they might have been 
retained." 
8 



S6 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF S. AMERICA. 

were asked, prior to sending them, whether it would consent to 
pay ministers of that grade, that lie would not, and he believed 
Congress would not, consent to pay them. 

'*■' If it be urged that, by avowing our willingness, in a legisla- 
tive act, to pay a minister not yet sent, and whom the President 
may think it improper to send abroad, we operate upon the 
President by all the force of our opii.-.bn; it may be retorted that 
when we are called upon to pay any viinister, sent under simi- 
lar circumstances, we are operated aj'on by all the force of the 
President's opinion. The true theory of our goveriniient at 
least supposes that each of the two departments, acting on its 
proper constitutional responsibility, will decide according to its 
best judgment, under all the circumstances of the case. If \ve 
j make the previous appropriation, Ave act upon our constitutional 
[ responsibility, and the President afterwards will proceed upon 
j his. And so if he make the previous appointment. We have 
a right, after a minister is sent abroad, and we are called upon 
to pay him, and we ought to deliberate upon the propriety of 
his mission — we may antl ought to grant or withhold his salary. 
If this power of deliberation is conceded subsequent to the depu- 
tation of the minister, it must exist prior to tliat deputation.-^* 
• Whenever we deliberate, Ave deliberate under our constitutional 
responsibiUty. Pass the amendment he proposed, and it Avould 
be passed under that responsibility. Then the President, Avhen 
he deliberated on the propriety of the mission, Avould act under 
his constitutional responsibility. Each branch of government, 
moving in its proper sphere, w^ould act Avith as much freedom 
from the influence of the other as was practically attainable. 
' ' There was great reason, Mr. Clay contended, from the pecu- 
liar character of the American government, in there being a 
perfect understanding between the legislative and executive 
branches, in relation to the acknowledgment of a ncAV power. 
Every Avhere else the power of declaring Avar resided Avith tlae 
executive. Here it Avas deposited with the legislature. If, con- 
trary to his opinion, there Avcre even a rislv that tlie acknow- 
ledgment of a ncAV state might lead to Avar, it Avas advisable 
that the step should not be taken Avithout a previous knowledge 
of the Avill of the Avar-making branch. He Avas disposed to give 
to the President all the confidence AA'hich he must derive from 
the unequivocal expression of our Avill. This expression he 
kncAV might be given in the form of an abstrac^t resolution, de- 
claratory of that will ; but he preferred at this time proposing an 
act of practical legislation. And if he had been so Ibrtunate as 
to communicate to the committee, in any thing like ^that degree 
of strength in Avhich he entertained them, the convictions that 
tlie cause of the patriots Avas just — that the character of the 
war, as Avaged by Spain, should induce us to Avisii them suc- 
cess; that Ave had a great interest in that success; that this in- 
terest, as Avell as our neutral attitude, required us to acknoAvledge 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

ted Provinces of the River Plate was such a govepjirtfient ; that 
we might safely acknowledge its independencq^^:^hout danger 
of war from Spain, from the allies, or from England ; and that, 
without unconstitutional interference with the ' executive power, 
with peculiar fitness, we might express, in an act of appropria- 
tion, our sentiments,Jeaving him to the exercise of a just and 
responsible discretioiwHe hoped the committee would adopt the 
proposition which he had now tlie honor of presenting to them, 
after a respectful tender of his acknowledgments for their atten- 
tion and kindness, during, he feared, the tedious period he had 
been so unprofitably trespassing upon their patience. He ofiered 
tlie following amendment to the bill: 

"For one year's salary, and an outfit to a minister to the 
United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, the salary to com- 
mence, and the outfit to be paid, whenever the President shall 
deem it expedient to send a minister to the said United Provin- 
ces, a sum not exceeding eighteen thousand dollars." 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

Speech on the Seminole War, delivered in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, January 1819. 

Mr. Chairman: 
In rising to address you, sir, on the very interesting subject 
which now engages the attention of Congress, I must be allowed 
to say, that all inferences drawn from the course, which it will be 
my painful duty to take in this discussion, of unfriendliness either 
to the chief magistrate of the country, or to the illustrious military 
chieftain, whose operations are vinder investigation, will be whol- 
ly unfounded. Towards that distinguished captain, who shed so 
much glory on our country, whose renown constitutes so great a 
portion of its moral property, I never had, I never can have any 
other feelings than those of the most profound respect, and of 
the utmost kindness. With him my acquaintance is very limited, 
but, so far as it has extended, it has been of the most amicable 
kind. I know, said Mr. C. the motives which have been, and 
which will again be attributed to me, in regard to the other ex- 
alted personage alluded to. They have been and will be un- 
founded. I have no interest, other tlian that of seeing the con- 
cerns of my country well and happily administered. It is infin- 
itely more gratifying to behold the prosperity of my country ad- 
vancing by the wisdom of the measures adopted to promote it, 
than it would be to expose the errors which may be committed, 
if there be any, in the conduct of its aflairs. Mr. C. said, little as 
had been his experience in public life, it had been sufficient to 
teach him that the most humble station is surrounded by difficul- 



88 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

ties and embarrassments. Rather than throw obstructions in the 
way of the president, he would precede him, and pick out those, 
if he could, which might jostle him in his progress — he would 
iSympathize with him in his embarrassments and commisserate 
with him in his misfortunes. It was true, that it had been his 
mortification to differ with that gentleman on several occasions. 
He might be again reluctantly compelled to differ with him ; but 
he would Avith the utmost sincerity assure the committee that he 
had formed no resolution, come under no engagements, and that 
he never would form any resolution, or contract any engagements, 
for systematic opposition to his administration, or to that of any 
other chief magistrate. 

Mr. Clay begged leave further to premise that the subject 
under consideration, presented two distinct aspects, susceptible, 
in his judgment, of the most clear and precise discrimination. 
The one he would call its foreign, the other its domestic aspect. 
In regard to the first, he would say, that he approved entirely of 
the conduct of his government, and that Spain had no cause of 
complaint. Having violated an important stipulation of the 
treaty of 1795, that power had justly subjected herself to all the 
consequences which ensued upon the entry into her dominions, 
and it belonged not to her to complain of those measures which 
resulted from her breach of contract ; still less had she a right to 
examine into the considerations connected with the domestic 
aspect of the subject. 

What were the propositions before the committee ? The first 
in order was that reported by the military committee, which 
asserts the disapprobation of this House, of the proceedings in 
the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. The second, 
being the first contained in the proposed ammendment, was the 
consequence of that disapprobation, and contemplates the pas- 
sage of a law to prohibit the execution hereafter, of any captive, 
taken by the army, without the approbation of the president. 
The third proposition was, that this house disapproves of the 
forcible seizure of the Spanish posts, as contrary to orders, and 
in violation of the constitution. The fourth proposition, as the 
result of the last, is, that a law should pass to prohibit the march 
of the army of the United States, or any corps of it, into any 
foreign territory, without the previous authorization of Congress, 
except it be in fresh pursuit of a defeated enemy. The first and 
■third Avere general propositions, declaring tlie sense of the House 
in regard to the evils pointed out, and the second and fourth 
proposed the legislative remedies against the recurrence of those 
evils. 

It would be at once perceived, Mr. C said, by this isimple 
statement of the propositions, that no other censure was proposed 
against General Jackson himself, than what was merely conse- 
quential. His name even did not appear in any one ot the re- 
solutions. The legislature of the coimtry, in reviewing the state 
of tlie Union, and considering the events which have transpired 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 89 

since its last meeting, finds that particular occurrences, of the 
greatest moment, in many respects, had taken place near our 
southern border. He would add, that the House had not sought, 
by any oificious interference with the duties of the executive, to 
gain jurisdiction over this matter. Tlie president, in his message 
at the opening of the session, communicated the very informa- 
tion on Avhich it was proposed to act. He would ask, for what 
purpose ? That we should fold our arms and yield a tacit ac- 
quiescence, even if we supposed that information disclosed 
alarming events, not merely as it regards the peace of the coun- 
try, but in respect to its constitution and character 1 Impossible. 
In communicating these papers, and voluntarily calling the at- 
tention of Congress to the subject, the president must himself 
have intended that we should apply any remedy that we might 
be able to devise. Having the subject thus regularly and fairly 
before us, and proposing merely to collect the sense of the House 
upon certain important transactions which it discloses, with the 
view to the passage of such laws as may be demanded by the 
public interest, he repeated, that there was no censure any where, 
except such as was strictly consequential upon our legislative 
action. The supposition of every new law, having for its object 
to prevent the recurrence of evil, is, that something has happened 
which ought not to have taken place, and no other than this in- 
direct sort of censure would flow from the resolutions before the 
committee. 

Having thus given his view of the nature and character of 
the propositions under consideration, Mr. C. said he was far from 
intimating, that it was not his purpose to go into a full, a free, and a 
thorough investigation of the facts, and of the principles of law, 
public, municipal, and constitutional, involved in them. And, 
whilst he trusted he should speak with the decorum due to the 
distinguished officers of the government, whose proceedings 
were to be examined, he should exercise the independence which 
belonged to him as a representative of the people, in freely and 
fully submitting his sentiments. 

In noticing the painful incidents of this war, it was impossible 
not to inquire into its origin. He feared that it would be found 
to be the famous treaty of Fort Jackson, concluded in August, 
1814; and he asked the indulgence of the chairman, that the 
clerk might read certain parts of that treaty. (The clerk having 
read as requested, Mr. C. proceeded.) He had never perused 
this instrument until within a few days past, and he had read it 
with the deepest mortification and regret. A more dictatorial 
spirit he had never seen displayed in any instrument. He would 
challenge an examination of all the records of diplomacy, not 
excepting even those in the most haughty period of imperial 
Rome, when she was carrying her arms into the barbarian na- 
tions that surrounded her, and he did not believe a solitary in- 
stance could be found of such an inexorable spirit of dominatiou 
S* 



90 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

pervading a compact purporting to be a treaty of peace. It 
consisted of the most severe and humiliating demands — of the 
surrender of a large territory — of the privilege of making roads 
through the remnant which was retained — of the right of es- 
tabUshing trading houses — of the obligation of delivering into 
our hands their prophets. And all this of a wretched people 
reduced to the last extremity of distress, whose miserable exis- 
tence we had to preserve by a voluntary stipulation, to furnish 
them with bread ! When did the all-conquering and desolating 
Rome ever fail to respect the altars and the gods of those whom 
she subjugated ! Let me not be told that these prophets were 
impostors, who deceived the Indians. They were theb^ proph- 
ets — the Indians believed and venerated them, and it is not for 
us to dictate a religious belief to them. It does not belong to 
the holy character of the religion which we profess, to carry its 
precepts, by the force of the bayonet, into the bosoms of other 
people. Mild and gentle persuasion was the great instrument 
employed by the meek Founder of our religion. We leave to 
the humane and benevolent efforts of the reverend professors of 
Christianity to convert from barbarism those unhappy nations 
yet immersed in its gloom. But, sir, spare them their prophets ! 
spare their delusions ! spare tlieir prejudices and superstitions ! 
spare them even their religion, such as it is, from open and cruel 
violence. When, sir, was that treaty concluded ? On the very 
day, after the protocol was signed, of the first conference be- 
tween the American and British commissioners, treating of peace, 
at Ghent. In the course of that negotiation, pretensions so 
enormous Avcre set up, by the other party, that, when they were 
promulgated in this country, there was one general burst of in- 
dignation throughout the continent. Faction itself was silenced, 
and the firm and unanimous determination of all parties was, 
to fight until the last man fell in tlie ditch, rather than submit to 
such ignominious terms. What a contrast is exhibited between 
the contemporaneous scenes of Ghent and of Fort Jackson! 
what a powerful voucher would the British commissioners have 
been furnished witli, if they could have got hold of that treaty! 
The United States demand, the United States demand, is repeat- 
ed five or six times. And what did the preamble itself disclose? 
That two-thirds of the Creek nation had been hostile, and one- 
third only friendly to us. Now he had heard, (he could not 
vouch for the truth of the statement,) that not one hostile chief 
fiigned the treaty. He had also heard that perhaps one or two 
of them hatL If the treaty were really made by a minority of 
the nation, it was not obligatory upon the whole nation. It was 
void, considered in the light of a national compact. And, if void, 
the Indians were entitled to the benefit of the provision of the 
ninth article of the treaty of Ghent, by which we bound our- 
selves to make peace witli any tribes with whom we might be 
at war on the ratification of the treaty, and to restore to them 
their lands, as they held them in 1811. Mr. C. said he did not 



ON I^IS SEMINOLE WAR, n 

Itnow how the honofable Senate, that body for -which he held so- 
high a respect, coiild have given their sanction to the treaty 
of Fort Jackson, so utterly irreconcileable as it i» with those 
noble principles of generosity and magnanimity which he hoped 
to see his country always exhibit, and particularly toward the 
miserable remnant of the Aborigines. It would have comported 
better with those principles, to have imitated the benevolent 
policy of the founder of Pennsylvania, and to have given to the 
Creeks, conquered as they were, even if they had made an unjust 
war upon us, the trifling consideration, to them an adequate 
compensation, which he paid for their lands. That treaty, Mr, 
C. said, he feared, had been the main cause of the recent war, 
. And, if it had been, it only added another melancholy proof to 
those with which history already abounds, that hard and un- 
conscionable terms, extorted by the power of the sword and the 
right of conquest, served but to whet and stimulate revenge, and 
to give to old hostilities, smothered, not extinguished, by the pre- 
tended peace, greater exasperation and more ferocity. A truce, 
thus patched up with an unfortunate people, without the means of 
existence, without bread, is no real peace. The instant there is 
the slightest prospect of relief irom such harsh and severe con- 
ditions, the conquered party will fly to arms, and spend the last 
drop of blood rather than live in such degraded bondage. Even 
if you again reduce him to submission, the expenses incurred by 
this second Avar, to say nothing of the human lives that are 
sacrificed, will be greater than what it would have cost you to 
have granted him liberal conditions in the first instance. This 
treaty, he repeated it, was, he apprehended, the cause of the 
war. It led to those excesses on our southern borders Avhich 
began it Who first commenced them, it was perhaps difficult to 
ascertain. There was^ however, a paper on this subject, com- 
municated at the last session by the President, that told, in lan- 
guage pathetic and feeling, an artless tale — a paper that carried 
such internal evidence, at least, of the belief of the authors of it 
that they were writing the truth, that he would ask the favor of 
the committee to allow him to read it* I should be very un- 

*The following is the letter from ten of the Seminole towns, which Mr. C. read: 

To the Commanding Officer at Fort Hawkins : 
Dbar Sir, 

Since the last war, after you sent word that we must quit the war, we, the red 
people, have come over on this side. The white people have carried all the red 
people^s cattle off. After the war, I sent to all my people to let the while people 
aloue, and stay on this side of the river; and they did so: but the white people stili 
continue to carry off their cattle. Bernard's son was here, and I inquired of him 
what was to be done — and he said we must go to the head man of the while people, 
and complain. I did so, and there was no head while man, and there was no laie 
in this case. The whites first began, and there is nothing said about thatf but 
great complaint about what the Indians do. This is now three years since the 
•white people killed three Indians— since that ihey have killed three other Indians, 
and taken their horses, and what they had ; and this summer they killed three more; 
and very lately they killed one more. We sent word to the while people that these 
murders were done, and the answer was, that ihey were people that were outlaws, and 
we ought to go and kill ihem. The while people killed our people first ; the Indian* 
then t6ok saiisfaction. There are yet three men ihal the red people have never taken 
Mtiafactioa for. You have wrote that there were houses burnt; but we know of do 



92 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

willing, Mr. C. eaid, to assert, in regard to this war, that the 
fault was on our side; but he feared it was. He had heard that 
a very respectable gentleman, now no more, who once filled the 
executive chair of Georgia, and who, having been agent of In- 
dian affairs in that quarter, had the best opportunity of judging 
of the origin of this war, deliberately pronounce it as his opinion 
tliat the Indians were not in fault. Mr. C. said, that he was far 
from attributing to General Jackson any other than the very 
slight degree of blame which attached to him as the negotiator 
of the treaty of Fort Jackson, and which would be shared by 
tjiose who subsequently ratified and sanctioned that treaty. But 
if tliere were even a doubt as to the origin of the war, whether 
we were censurable or the Indians, that doubt would serve to 
increase our regret at any distressing incidents which may have 
occurred, and to mitigate, in some degree, the crimes which we 
impute to the other side. He knew, he said, that when General 
Jackson was summoned to the field, it was too late to hesitate — 
tlie fatal blow had been struck, in the destruction of Fovvl-town, 
and the dreadful massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his detach- 
ment ; and the only duty which remained to him, was to termi- 
nate this unhappy contest. 

The first circumstance which, in the course of his performing 
tliat duty, fixed our attention, had, Mr. C. said, filled him with 
regret. It was the execution of the Indian chiefs. How, he 
asked, did they come into our possession ? Was it in the course 
of fair, and open, and honorable war ? No, but by means of de- 
ception—by hoisting foreign colore on the staff from which the 

««ch thing being done: the truth in such cases ought to be told, but this appears 
otherwise. On that side of the river, the white people have killed five Indians; but 
there is nothing said about that; and all that the Indians have done is brought up. 
All the mischii-f the ichile people hare dmie, ought to be told to their head man. 
When there is any thing done, you write to us; but never write to your head man 
what the white people do. When the red people send talks, or write, they always 
send the truth. You have sent to us for your horses, and we sent all that we could 
find; but there were some dead. It appears that all the mischief is laid on this 
town; but all the mischief that has been done by this town is two horses; one of 
them is dead, and the other was sent back. The cattle that we are accused of taking 
were cattle that the white people took from us. Our young men went and brought 
them back, with the same marks and brands. There were some of our young men out 
hunting, and they were killed; others went to take satisfaction, and the kettle of one 
of the men that was killed was found in the houso where the woman and two chil- 
dren were killed; and they supposed it had been her husband who had killed the Ih- 
diana, and took their satisfaction there. We are accused of killing the Americans, 
and so on; but since the word was sent to us that peace was made, we stay steadjr 
M. home, aiid meddle icith no person. You have sent to us respecting he ^lack 
people on the Suwany river: we have nothing to do with them. They were put 
there by the English, and to them you ought to apply for any thing about them. 
We do not wish our country desolated by an army passing through it, for the con- 
etrn of other people. The Indians have slaves there also ; a great many of theme 
When we have an opportunity we shall apply to the English for them, but we caimut 
get them now. 

This is what we have to say at present. 

Sir, I conclude by subscribing myself, 

Youx humble servant, &c. 
September, the 11th day, 1817. 

W. B.— There are ten towns haTe read thifl letter, and this is the answer. 
A true copy of the original. Wm. Bsll, A.id-de-e(unp. 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 93 

Btars and stripes should alone have floated. Thus ensnared, 
the Indians were taken on shore, and without ceremony, and 
tvithout delay, were hung. Hang an Indian ! We, sir, who are 
civilized, and can comprehend and feel the effect of moral cau- 
ses and considerations, attach ignominy to that mode of death. 
A.nd the gallant, and refined, and high-minded man, seeks by alt 
)ossible means to avoid it. But what cares an Indian whether 
-ou hang or shoot him? The moment he is captured, he is con- 
idered by his tribe as disgraced, if not lost. They, too, are in- 
ifferent about the manner in which he is despatched. But, Mr. 
^. said, he regarded the occurrence with grief for other and 
iigher considerfi.tions. It was the first instance that he knew of, 
1 the annals cf our country, in which retaliation, by executing 
'idian captives, had ever been deliberately practised. There 
lay have been exceptions, but if there were, they met with con- 
•mporaneous condemnation, and have been reprehended by the 
jst pen of impartial history. The gentleman from Massachu- 
ittsmay tell me, if he chooses, what he pleases about the toma- 
awk and scalping knife — about Indian enormities, and foreign 
liscreants and incendiaries. I, too, hate them ; from my very 
nd I abominate them. But, I love my country, and its consti- 
ition ; I love liberty and safety, and fear military despotism 
lore, even, than I hate these monsters. The gentleman, in the 
lurse of his remarks, alluded to the State from which I have 
le honor to come. Litde, sir, does he know of the high and 
lagnanimous sentiments of the people of that State, if he sup- 
!)ses they will approve of the transaction to which he referred, 
rave and generous, humanity and clemency towards a fallen foe 
institute one of their noblest characteristics. Amidst all the strug- 
tes for that fair land between the natives and the present inhabi- 
mts, Mr. C. said, he defied the gentleman to point out one instance 
I which a Kentuckian had staned his hand by — nothing but 
is high sense of the distinguished services and exalted merits 
f General Jackson prevented his using a different term — the ex- 
cution of an unarmed and prostrate captive. Yes, said Mr. C, 
lere was one solitary exception, in which a man, enraged at 
eholding an Indian prisoner, who had been celebrated for his 
normities, and who had destroyed some of his kindred, plunged 
is sword into his bosom. The wicked deed was considered 
3 an abominable outrage when it occurred, and tlie name of 
he man has been handed down to the execration of posterity, 
deny your right, said Mr. C-, thus to retaliate on the aboriginal 
iroprietors of the country ; and unless I am utterly deceived, it 
lay be shown that it does not exist. But before I attempt this, 
How me to make the gentleman from Massachusetts a little 
etter acquainted with those people, to whose feelings and sym- 
athies he has appealed through their representative. During the 
ite war with Great Britain, Colonel Campbell, under the com- 
land of my honorable friend from Ohio, (General Harrison) 
'as placed at the head of a detachment consisting chiefly, he 



f 



94 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

believed, of Kentucky volunteers, in order to destroy the Missis- 
sinavvay towns. They proceeded and performed the duty, and 
took some prisoners. And here is evidence of the manner in 
Avhich they treated them. (Here Mr. C. read the general orders 
issued on the return of the detachment.)* I hope, sir, the hon- 
orable gentleman will now be able better to appreciate the cha- 
racter and conduct of my gallant countrymen than he appears 
hitherto to have done. 

But, sir, I have said that you have no right to practise under 
color of retaliation, enormities on the Indians. I will advance 
in support of this position, as applicable to the origin of all law, 
the principle, that whatever has been the custom, from the com- 
mencement of a subject, Avhatever has been the uniform usage 
CO cval and co-existent with the subject to which it relates, be- 
comes its fixed law. Such was the foundation of all common 
law ; and such, he believed, was the principal foundation of all 
public or international law. If, then, it could be shown that from 
the first settlement of the colonies, on this part of the American 
continent, to the present time, we have constantly abstained from 
retaliating upon the Indians the excesses practised by them to- 
wards us, we were morally bound by this invariable usage, and 
could not la'vfully change it without the most cogent reasons. 
So far as liis knowledge extended, he said, that from the first 
settlement at Plymouth or at Jamestown, it had not been our 
practice to destroy Indian captives, combatants or non-combat- 
ants. He knew of but one deviation I'rom the code v.'hich regur 
lated the warfare between civilized communities, and that was 
the destruction of Indian towns, which was supposed to be au- 
thorized upon the ground that we could not bring the war to a 
termination but by destroying the means which nourished it. 
With this single exception, the other principles of the laws of 
civilized nations are extended to them, and are thus made law in 
regard to them. When did this humane custom, by which, in 
consideration of their ignorance, and our enlightened condition, the 
rigors of war were mitigated, begin? At a time when we were 
weak, and they were comparatively strong — when they were the 
lords of the soil, and we were seeking, from the vices, from the 
corruptions, from the religious intolerance, and from the op- 
pressions of Europe, to gain an asylum among them. And when 
IS it proposed to change this custom, to substitute for it tlie bloody 

♦ The following is the extract read bv Mr. Clay: 

"But the character of this gallant detachment, exhibiting, as it did, perseverance, 
fortitude, and bravery, would, however, be incomplete, if, in the midst of victory, they 
had forgotten the feelincs of liumanity. It is with the sincerest pleasure thai the gen- 
eral has heard, that the most punctual obedience was paid to his orders, in not only 
saving all the women ami children, but in sparing all the warriors jpho ceased to 
resist : and that even when vigorously attacked by the enemy, the claims ol mercy 
prevailed over evpry sense of their own danger, and this heroic band respected the 
lives of their prisoners. Let an account of murdered innocence be opened in the 
records of heaven against our enemies alone. The American soldier will follow the 
example of his government, and the sword of the one will not be raised against the 
fallen and the helpless, nor the gold of the other be paid for scalps of a massacred 
enemy." 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 95 

maxims of barbarous acres, and to interpolate the Indian public 
law with revolting cruelties ? At a time Avhen the situation of the H 
two parties is totally changed — when we are powerful and they 
are wf ak — at a ti;iie when, to use a figure drawn from their own 
sublime eloquence, the poor children of the forest have been 
driven by the great wave which has flowed in from the Atlantic 
ocean almost to the base of the Rocky mountains, and, over- 
whelming them in its terrible progress, he has left no other re- 
mains of hundreds of tribes, now extinct, than those which indi- 
cate the remote existence of their former companion, the Mam- 
moth of tlie new world ! Yes, sir, it is at this auspicious period 
of our country, when we hold a proud and lofty station among 
the first nations of the world, that we are called upon to sanction a 
departure from the established lav/s and usages whichhave regula- 
ted our Indian hostilities. And does the honorable gentleman froni., ,.' 
Massachusetts expect, in this august body, this enlightened assem- 
bly of christians and Americans, by glowingappeals to our passions, 
to make iit; for<jet our principles, our religion, our clemency and 
our humanity? Why was it, Mr. C. asked, that we had not 
practised towards the Indian tribes the right of retaliation, now i.^ 
for t!ie fir.sr time asserted in regard to them ? It was because it 
is a principle proclaimed by reason, and enforced by every re- 
spectable writer on the law of nations, that retaliation is only 
justifiable as calculated to produce effect in the war. Venge- 
ance was a n^w motive for resorting to it. If retaliation will 
produce no effect on the enemy, we are bound to abstain from it, 
by every consideration of humanity and of justice. Will it, then, 
produce effect on the Indian tribes ? No — they care not about 
the execution of those of their warriors who are taken captive. 
They are considered as disgraced by the very circumstance of 
their captivity, and it is often mercy to the unhappy captive to 
deprivp him of his existence. The poet evinced a profound 
knowledge of the Indian character, when he put into the mouth 
of tlie son of a distinguishetl chief, about to be led to the stake 
and tortured by his victorious enemy, the words : 

Bfi"in, yp tnrinHiitors ! your threats are in vain: 
The son of Alknomooli will never complain. 

Retaliation of Indian excesses, not producing then any effect 
in preventing their repetition, was condemned by both reason 
and the principles upon which alone, in any case, it can be justi- 
fied. On this branch of the subject, much more might be sajd, 
but as he should possibly again allude to it, he would pass from 
it, tor the present, to another topic. ^ 

It was not necessary, Mr. C. said, for the purpose of his argu- 
ment in regard to the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Am- 
brister, to insist on the innocency of either of them. He would 
yield for the sake of that argument, without inquiry, that both 
of them were guilty; that both had instigated the war.; and 
that one of them had led the enemy to battle. It was possible, 



96 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

indeed, that a critical examination of tlie evidence would show, 
particularly in the case of Arbuthnot, that the whole amount of 
his crime consisted in his trading, without the limits of the Uni- 
ted States, with the Seminole Indians, in the accustomed com- 
modities which form the subject of Indian trade, and that he sought 
to ingratiate himself with his customers, by espousing their in- 
terests, in regard to the provision of the treaty of Ghent, Avhich 
he may have honestly believed entitled them to the restoration 
of their lands. And if, indeed, the treaty of Fort Jackson, for the rea- 
sons already assigned, were not binding upon the Creeks, there 
would be but too much cause to lament his unhappy, if not un- 
just fate. The first impression made on the examination of the 
proceedings in the trial and execution of those two men, is, that 
on the pr.rt of Ambrister there was the most guilt, but, at the 
same time, the most irregularity. Conceding the point cf guilt 
of both, with the qualification which he had stated, he would 
proceed to inquire, first, if their execution could be justified upon 
the principles assumed by General Jackson himself. If they did 
not afford a justification, he would next inquire if there were 
'any other principles authorizing their execution ; and he would, 
in the third place, make some observations upon the mode ot" 
proceeding. 

The principle assumed by General Jackson, which may be 
found in his general orders commanding the execution of these 
men, i?^ "that it is an established principle of the law of nations, 
that any individual of a nation, making war a.gainst the citizens 
of any other nation, they being at peace, forfeits his allegiance, 
and becomes an outlaw and a pirate." Whatever may be the 
character of individuals waging private war, the principle as- 
sumed is totally erroneous, when applied to such individuals as- 
sociated with a power, whether Indian or civilized, capable of 
maintaining the relations of peace and war. Suppose, however, 
the principle were true, as asserted, what disposition should lie 
have made of these men? What jurisdiction, and how acquired, 
has the military over pirates, robbers, and outlaws ? If they 
were in the character imputed, they were alone amenable, and 
should have been turned over to the civil authority. But the 
principle, he repeated, was totally incorrect, when applied to men 
in their situation. A foreigner, connecting himself with a bellig- 
erent, becomes an enemy of the party to whom that belligerent 
is opposed, subject to whatever he may be subject, entitled to 
whatever he is entitled. Arbuthnot and Ambrister, by associ- 
ating themselves, became identified with the Indians ; tliey be- 
came our enemies, and we had a right to treat them as we could 
lawfully treat the Indians. Tliese positions were so obviously 
correct, that he should consider it an abuse of the patience of the 
committee to consume time in their proof They were supported 
by the practice of all nations, and of our own. Every page of 
history, in all times, and the recollection of every member, fur- 
nish evidence of tlieir truth. Let us look for a moment into some 



I 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 97 

of tlie consequences of this principle, if it, were to go to Evirope, 
sanctioned by the approbation, express or imphed, of this house. 
We have now in our armies probably the subjects of almost ev- 
ery European power. Some of the nations of Europe maintain 
the doctrine of perpetual allegiance. Suppose Britain and 
America in peace, and America and France at war. The for- 
mer subjects of England, naturalized and unnaturalized, are cap- 
tured by the navy or army of France. What is their condition? 
according to the principle of General Jackson, they would be out- 
laws and pirates, and Jiable to immediate execution. Were gen- 
tlemen prepared to return to their respective districts with this 
doctrine in their mouths, and say to their Irish, English, Scotch, 
and other to reign constituents, that you are liable, on the contin- 
gency supposed, to be treated as outlaws and pirates? 

Was there any other principle which justified the proceedings? 
On this subject, he said, if he admired the wondcrlul ingenuity 
with which gentlemen sought a colorable pretext for those exe- 
cutions, he was at the same time shocked at some of the princi- 
ples advanced. What said the honorable gentleman from Mas- 
sachusetts (Mr. Holmes) in a cold address to the committee? 
Wliy, that these executions were only the wrong mode of doing 
a right thing. A wrong mode of doing a right thing ! In what 
code of public law ; in wliat system of ethics ; nay, in what res- 
pectable novel ; Avhere, if tlie gentleman were to take the range 
of the whole literature of the world, will he find any sanction for 
a principle so monstrous? He would illustrate its enormity by 
a single case. Suppose a man being guilty of robbery, is tried, 
condemned, and executed lor murder, upon an indictment for that 
robbery merely. The judge is arraigned for having executed, 
contrary to law, a human being, innocent at heart of the crime 
for which he was sentenced. The judge has nothing to do, to 
ensure his ovv'n acquittal, but to urge the gentleman's plea, that 
he had done a right thing a wrong way ! 

The principles which attached to the cases of Arbuthnot and 
Ambrister, constituting them merely particvpes in the war, sup 
posing them to have l)een combatants, which the former was not, 
Ke having been taken in a Spanish fortress, without arms in his 
hands, all that we could possibly have a right to do, was to apply 
to them the rules which we had a right to enforce against the 
Indians. Their English character was only merged in their In- 
dian character. Now, if the law regulating Indian hostihties, be 
establislied by long and immemorial usage, that we have no mo- 
ral right to retaliate upon them, we consequently liad no right to 
retaliate upon Arbvtthnot and Ambrister. Even if it were ad- 
mitted that, in regard to future wars, and to other foreigners, 
their execution may have a good effect, it would not thence fol- 
low that you had a right to execute tliem. It is not always just 
to do what may be advantageous. And retaliation, during a 
war, must have relation to the events of that war, and must, to 
9 



98 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR, 

be just, have an operation on that war, and upon the i'ndiVidiialg 
only who compose the belligerent party. It became gentlemen, 
then, on the other side, to show, by some known, certain and re- 
co^ized rule of public or municipal law, that the execution of 
these men was justified. Where is it? He should be glad to 
see it. We are told in a paper emanating from the department 
of state, recently laid before this house, distinguished for the fer- 
vor of its eloquence, and of which the honorable gentleman from 
Massachusetts has supplied us in part with a second edition, in 
one respect agreeing with the prototype, that they both ought to 
be inscribed to the American public — we are justly told in that 
paper, that this is the first instance of the execxition of persons 
for the crime of instigating Indians to war. Sir, there are two 
topics which, in Europe, are constantly employed by the frienda 
and minions of legitimacy against our country. The one is an 
inordinate spirit of aggrandizement — of coveting other people's 
goods. The other is the treatment which we extend to the In- 
dians. Against both these charges, the public servants who con- 
ducted at Ghent the negotiations with the British commissioners, 
endeavored to vindicate our country, and he hoped with some 
degree of success. What will be the condition of future Ameri- 
can negotiators, when pressed upon this head, he knew not, af- 
ter the unhappy executions on our southern border. The gentle- 
man from Massachusetts seemed on yesterday to read, with a 
sort of triumph, the names of the commissioners employed in the 
negotiation at Ghent. Will he excuse me for saying, that I 
thought he pronounced, even with more complacency and with a 
more gracious smile, the first name in the commission, than he 
emphasized that of the humble individual who addresses you. 
(Mr. Holmes desired to explain.) Mr. C. said there was no occa- 
sion for explanation; he was perfectly satisfied. (Mr. H. how- 
ever, proceeded to say that his intention was, in pronouncing the 
gentleman's name, to add to the respect due to the negotiator 
that which was due to the speaker of this house.) To return to 
the case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Will the principle of these 
men having been the instigators of the war, justify their execu- 
tion ? It was a new one ; there were no land marks to guide us 
in its adoption, or to prescribe limits in its application. If Wil- 
liam Pitt had been taken by the French army, during the late 
European war, could France have justifiably executed him, on 
the ground of his having notorioui-ly instigated the continental 
powers to war against France? Would France, if she had stain- 
ed her character by executing him, have obtained the sanction 
of the world to the act, by appeals to the passions and prejudi- 
ces, by pointing to the cities sacked, the countries laid waste, the 
human lives sacrificed in the wars which he had kindled, and by 
exclaiming to the unibrtunate captive, you! miscreant, monster 
have occasioned all these scen<^s of devastation and blood ? 
What had been the conduct even of England towards the great- 
est instigator of all the wars of the present age? The condem- 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 99 

nation of that illustrious man to the rock of St. Helena, was a 
great blot on the English name. And Mr. C. repeated what he 
had before said, that if Chatham or Fox, or even William Pitt 
himseli', had been prime minister, in England, Bonaparte had 
never been so condemned. On that transaction history will one 
day pass its severe but just censure. Yes, although Napoleon 
had desolated half Europe ; although there was scarcely a pow- 
er, however humble, that escaped the mighty grasp of his am- 
bition ; although in the course of his splendid career he is charged 
with having committed the greatest atrocities, disgraceful to him- 
self and to human nature, yet even his life has been spared. The 
allies would not, England would not, execute him, upon the 
ground of his being an instigator of wars. 

The mode of the trial and sentencing these men, Mr. C. said, 
was equally objectionable with the principles on which it had 
been attempted to prove a forfeiture of their lives. He knew, 
he said, the laudable spirit which prompted the ingenuity dis- 
played in finding out a justification for these proceedings. He 
wished most sincerely that he could reconcile them to his con- 
ecience. It had been attempted to vindicate the General upon 
grounds which he was persuaded he Avould himself disown. It 
had been asserted, that he was guilty of a mistake in calling up- 
on the court to try them, and that he might have at once ordered 
their execution, without that formality. He denied that there 
was any such absolute right in the commander of any portion 
of our army. The right of retaliation is an attribute of sover- 
eignty. It is comprehended in the war making power that Con- 
gress possesses. It belongs to this body not only to declare war, 
but to raise armies, and to make rules and regulations for their 
government. It was in vain for gentlemen to look to the law of 
nations for instances in which retaliation is lawful. The laws 
of nations merely laid down the principle or rule ; it belongs to 
the government to constitute the tribunal for applying that prin- 
ciple or rule. There was, for example, no instance in which the 
death of a captive was more certainly declared by the law of 
nations to be justifiable, than in the case of spies. Congress has 
accordingly provided, in the rules and articles of war, a tribunal 
■for the trial of spies, and consequently for the application of the 
principle of the national law. The legislature had not left the 
power over spies undefined, to the mere discretion of the com- 
mander in chief, or of any subaltern officer in the army. For, if 
the doctrines now contended for were true, they would apply ta 
the commander of any corps, however small, acting as a detach- 
ment. Suppose Congress had not legislated in the case of spies, 
what would have been their condition 7 It would have been a 
casus omiss^is, and although the public law pronounced their, 
doom, it could not be executed because Congress had assigned 
no tribunal for enforcing that public laAV. No man could be ex-, 
ecuted in this free country without two things being shown : 1st, 
That the law condemns him to death ; and 2d, That hi§ death i^ 



100 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

pronounced by that tribunal which is authorized by the law to try 
him. Tliese principles would reach every man's case, native or for- 
eign, citizen or alien. The instant quarters are granted to a prison- 
er, the majesty of thalaw surrounds and sustains him, and he can- 
not be lawfully pvmishcd with death without the concurrence of the 
two circumstances just insisted upon. He denied that any com- 
mander in chief, in this country, had this absolute power of life 
and death, at his sole discretion. It was contrary to the genius 
of all our laws and institutions. To concentrate in the person 
of one individual the powers to make the rule, to judge and to 
execute the rule, or to judge, and execute the rule only, was ut- 
terly irreconcilable wath every principle of free government, and 
was the very definition of tyranny itsell'; and he trusted that this 
house would never give even a tacit assent to such a principle. 
Suppose the commander had made even reprisals on property, 
would that property have belonged to the nation, or could he 
have disposed of it as he pleased ? Had he more power, would 
gentlemen tell him, over the lives of human beings, than over 
property? The assertion of such a power to the commander in 
chief, was contrary to the practice of the government. By an 
act of Congress, which passed in 1799, vesting the power of re- 
taliation in certain cases in the President of tlie United Slates — 
an act which passed during the quasi war with France, the Pre- 
sident is authorized to retaliate upon any of the citizens of the 
French republic, the enormities which may be practised in cer- 
tain cases, upon our citizens. Under what administration was 
this act passed? It was under that which has been justly charg- 
ed with stretching the constitution to enlarge the executive pow- 
ers. Even during the mad career of Mr. Adams, Avhcn every 
means were resorted to for the purpose of infusing vigor into the 
executive arm, no one tliought of claiming for him tlie inherent 
right of retaliation. He would not trouble the house with read- 
ing another law, which passed thirteen or fourteen years after, 
during the late war with Great Britain, under the administration 
of that great constitutional President, the lather of the instrument 
itself, by which Mr. Madison was empowered to retaliate on the 
British in certain instances. It was not only contrary to the ge- 
nius of our institutions, and to the uniform practice of the gov- 
ernment, but it was contrary to the obvious principles on which 
the General himself had proceeded; for, in forming the court, he 
had evidently intended to proceed under the rules and articles ot 
war. The extreme number which they provide for is thirteen, 
precisely that Avhich is detailed in the present instance. The 
court proceeded not by a bare plurality, but by a majority of 
two-thirds. In the general orders issued from the Adjutant Gen- 
eral's oHicc, at head quarters, it is described as a court-viarlial. 
The prisoners arc said, in those orders, to have been tried " on 
the following duiTges and specifications." The court understood 
itself to be acting as a court-martial. It was so organized — it so 
proceeded, having a judge advocate, hearing Avituesses, and the 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 101 

written defence of the miserable trembling prisoners, who seemed 
to have a presentiment of their doom. And the court was final- 
ly dissolved. The whole proceeding maniiestly shows that all 
parties considered it as a court-martial, convened and acting un- 
der the rules and articles of war. In his letter to the secretary 
of war, noticing the transaction, the General says : " These indi- 
viduals were tried under my orders, legally convicted as exciters 
of this savage and negro war, legally condemned and most justly 
punished for their iniquities." The Lord deliver us from such 
legal conviction, and such legal condemnation ! The General 
himself considered the laws of his country to have justified his 
proceedings. It was in vain then to talk of a power in him be- 
yond the law, and above the law, when he himself does not as- 
sert it. Let it be conceded, that he was clothed with absolute 
authority over the lives of those individuals, and that, upon his 
own fiat, without trial, without delence, he might have command- 
ed their execution. Now, if an absolute sovereign, in any par- 
ticular respect, promulgates a rule, which he pledges himself to 
observe, if he subsequently deviates Irom that rule, he subjects 
himself to the imputation of odious tjTanny. If General Jack- 
son had tlie power, without a court, to condemn these men, he 
had also the power to appoint a tribunal. He did appoint a tri- 
bunal, and became, therefore, morally bound to observe and exe- 
cute the sentence of that tribunal. In regard to Ambrister, it 
was with grief and pain he w^as compelled to say, that he was 
executed in defiance of all law ; in defiance of the law to which 
General .Tackson had voluntarily, if you please, submitted him- 
self, and given, by his appeal to the court, his implied pledge to 
observe. He knew but little of military law, and what had hap- 
pened, had certainly not created in him a taste for acquiring a 
knowledge of more ; but he believed there was no example on 
record, v\?here the sentence of the court has been erased, and a 
sentence not pronounced by it carried into execution. It had 
been suggested that the court had pronounced two sentences, 
and tliat the General had a right to select either. Two senten- 
ces ! Two verdicts ! It was not so. The first being revoked, 
was as though it had never been pronounced. And there re- 
mained only one sentence, which was put aside upon the sole 
authority of the commander, and the execution of the prisoner 
ordered. He either had or had not a right to decide upon the 
fate of that man, without the intervention of a court. If he had 
the right, he waived it, and, having violated the sentence of the 
court, there was brought upon the judicial administration of the 
army a reproach, which must occasion the most lasting regret. 

However guilty these men were, they should not have been 
condemned or executed, without the authority of the law. He 
would not dwell, at this time, on the efl'ect of these precedents in 
foreign countries, but he w^ould not pass unnoticed their danger- 
ous influence in our own country. Bad examples are generally set 
9* 



102 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

in the cases of bad men, and often remote from the central gov- 
ernment. It was in the provinces that were laid the abuses and 
the seeds of the ambitious projects which overturned the Hberties 
of Rome. He beseeched the committee not to be so captivated 
by the charms of eloquence, and the appeals made to our pas- 
sions and our sympathies, as to forget the fundamental principles 
of our government. The influence of a bad example would often 
be felt when its authors and all the circumstances connected 
with it, were no longer remembered. He knew of but one anal- 
agous instance of the execution of a prisoner, and that had 
brought more odium, than almost any other incident, on the un- 
happy emperor of France. He alluded to the instance of the ex- 
ecution of the unfortunate member of the Bourbon house. He 
sought an asylum in the territories of Baden. Bonaparte des- 
patched a corps of gen-d'armes to the place of his retreat, seized 
him, and brought him to the dungeons of Vincennes. He was 
there tried by a court martial, condemned, and shot. There, as 
here was a violation of neutral territory ; there the neutral 
ground was not stained with the blood of him whom it should 
have protected. And there was another most unfortunate differ- 
ence for the Amercian example. The duke D'Enghein was ex- 
cuted according to his sentence. It is said by the defenders of 
Napoleon, that the duke had been machinating not merely to 
overturn the French government, but against the life of its chief. 
If that were true, he might, if taken in France, have been legally 
executed. Such was the odium brought upon the instruments 
of this transaction, that those persons who have been even sus- 

f)ected of participation in it have sought to vindicate themselvss 
rom what they appear to have considered as an aspersion, before 
foreign courts. In conclusion of this part of the subject, Mr. C. said 
that he most cheerfully and entirely acquitted General' Jackson of 
any intention to violate the laws of the country, or the obligations of 
humanity. He was persuaded, from all that he had heard, that 
he considered himself as equally respecting and observing both. 
With respect to the purity of his intentions, therefore, he was 
disposed to allow it in the most extensive degree. Of his acts, 
eaid Mr. C, it is my duty to speak with the freedom which belongs 
to my station. And I shall now proceed to consider some of 
them, of the most momentous character, as it regards the distri- 
bution of the powers of government. 

Of all the powers conferred by the constitution of the United 
States, not one is more expressly and exclusively granted than 
that which gives to Congress the power to declare war. The 
immortal convention who formed that instrument, had abundant 
reason drawn from every page of history, for confiding this tre- 
mendous power to the deliberate judgment of the representatives 
of the people. It was there seen that nations are often precipi- 
tated into ruinous war from folly, from pride, from ambition, and 
from the desire of military fame. It Avas believed, no doubt, in 
committing this great subject to the legislature of the Union, we 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 103 

ehould be safe from the mad wars that have afflicted and desolat- 
ed and ruined other countries. It was supposed that before any 
war was declared, the nature of the injury complained of would 
be carefully examined, and the power and resources of the enemy 
estimated, and the power and resources of our own country, as well 
as the probable issue and consequences of the war. It was to guard 
our country against precisely that species of rashness, which has 
been manifested in Florida, that the constitution was so framed. 
If, then, this power, thus cautiously and clearly bestowed upon 
Congress, has been assumed and exercised by any other function- 
ary of the government, it is cause of serious alarm, and it became 
that body to vindicate and maintain its authority by all the means 
in its power; and yet there are some gentlemen, who would have 
us not merely to yield a tame and silent acquiescence in the en- 
croachment, but even to pass a vote of thanks to the author. 

On the twenty-fifth of March, 1818, (Mr. C. continued,) the 
president of the United States, communicated a message to Con- 
gress in relation to the Seminole war, in which he declared that, 
although in the prosecution of it, orders had been given to pass 
into the Spanish territory, they were so guarded as that the local 
authorities of Spain should be respected. How respected 1 The 
president, by the documents accompanying the message, the 
orders themselves which issued from the department of war, to 
the commanding general, had assured the legislature that, even 
if the enemy should take shelter under a Spanish fortress, the 
fortress was not to be attacked, but the fact to be reported to that 
department for further orders. Congress saw, therefore, that 
there was no danger of violating the existing peace. And yet, 
on the same twenty-fifth day of March (a most singular concur- 
rence of dates,) when the representatives of the people received 
this solemn message, announced in the presence of the nation 
and in the face of the world, and in the midst of a friendly negoti- 
ation with Spain, does General Jackson write from his head 
quarters, that he shall take St. Marks as a necessary depot for 
his military operations ! The General states, in his letter, what 
he had heard about the threat on the part of the Indians and 
Negroes, to occupy the fort, and declares his purpose to possess 
himself of it, in either of the two contingencies, of its being in 
their hands, or in the hands of the Spaniards. He assumed a 
right to judge what Spain was bound to do by her treaty, and 
judged very correctly; but then he also assumed the power, be- 
longing to Congress alone, of determining what should be the 
effect, and consequence of her breach of engagement. General 
Jackson generally performs what he intimates his intention to do. 
Accordingly,finding St. Marks yet in the hands of the Spaniards, 
he seized and occupied it. Was ever, he asked, the just confid- 
ence of the legislative body, in the assurances of the chief magis- 
trate, more abused ? The Spanish commander intimated hia 
willingness that the American army should take post near him, 
until he could have instructions Irom his superior officer, and pro- 



104 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

mised to maintain in the mean time the most friendly relations. 
No ! St. Marks was a convenient post for the American army, 
and delay was inadmissible. He had always undestood that the 
Indians but rarely take or defend fortresses, because they are un- 
skilled in the modes of attack and defence. The threat, there- 
fore, on their part, to seize on St. Marks must have been empty, 
and would probably have been impossible. At all events, when 
General Jackson arrived there, no danger any longer threatened 
the Spaniards from the miserable fugitive Indians, who fled on 
all sides upon his approach. And, sir, upon what plea is this 
violation of orders, and this act of war upon a foreign power, at- 
tempted to be justified? Upon the grounds of the conveniency 
of the depot and the Indian threat. The first he would not seri- 
ously examine and expose. If the Spanish character of the fort 
had been totally merged in the Indian character, it might have 
been justifiable to sieze it. But that was not the tact, and the 
bare possibility of its being forcibly taken by the Indians, could 
not justify our anticipating their blow. Of all the odious transac- 
tions which occurred during the late war between France and 
England, none was more condemned in Europe and i:i this 
country, than her seizure of the fleet of Denmark at Copenhagen. 
And he lamented to be obliged to notice the analogy which ex- 
isted in the defences made of the two cases. If his recollection 
did not deceive him, Bonaparte had passed the Rhine and the 
Alps, had conquered Italy, the Netherlands, Holland, Hanover, 
Lubec, and Hamburg, and extended his empire as far as Altona 
on the side of Denmark. A few days' march would have carried 
him through Holstein, over the two Belts, through Funen, and into 
the island of Zealand. What tJien was the conduct of England 1 
It was ray lot, JVIr. C. said, to fall into conversation with an intel- 
ligent Englishman on this subject. " We knew ("said he) that we 
were fighting for our existence. It was absolutely necessary 
that we should preserve the command of the seas. If the fleet 
of Demark fell into the enemy's hands, combined with his other 
fleets, that command might be rendered doubtful. Denmark had 
only a nominal independence. She was, in truth, subject to his 
sway. We said to lier, give us your fleet ; it will otherwise be 
taken possession of by your secret and our open enemy. We 
will preserve it, and restore it to you whenever the danger shall 
be over. Denmark refused. Copenhagen was bombarded, gal- 
lantly defended, but the fleet was seized." Every where the 
conduct of England was censured ; and the name even of the 
negotiator who was employed by her, who was subsequent- 
ly the minister near this government, was scarcely ever pro- 
nounced here witliout coupling with it an epithet indicating his 
participation in the disgraceful transaction. And yet we are 
going to sanction acts of violence, committed by ourselves, which 
but too much resemble it ! What an important difi'erence, too, 
between the relative condition of England and of this country ! 
She perha]>s was struggling for her existence. She was com- 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 105 

bating, single-handed, the most enormous military power that the 
world has ever known. Who were we contending with? 
Witli a lew half-starved, hall-clothed, wretched Indians, and 
fugitive slaves. And, whilst carrying on this inglorious war, — 
inglorious as it regards the laurels or renown won in it, — we vio- 
lafe neutral rights, which the government had solemnly pledged 
itself to respect, upon tlie principle of convenience, or upon the 
light presumption that, hy possiblity, a post might be taken by 
this miserable combination of Indians and slaves. 

On the 8th of April, tlie General writes from St. Marks, that 
he shall march for the Suwaney river ; the destroying of the 
establishments on whieli will, in his opinion, bring the war to a 
close. Accordingly, having effected that object, he writes, on 
the 20th of April, that he believes he may say that the war is at 
an end for the present. He repeats the same opinion in his letter 
to the secretary of war, written six days after. The war being 
thus ended, it might have been hoped that no further hostilities 
would have been committed. But on the 23d of May, on his way 
home, he receives a letter from the commandant of Pensacola, 
intimating his surprise at the invasion of the Spanish territory, 
and the acts of hostility performed by the American army, and 
his determination, if persisted in, to employ force to repel them. 
Let us pause and examine this proceeding of the governor, so 
very hostile and affrontive in the view of General Jackson. Re- 
collect that he was governor of Florida ; that he had received 
no orders from his superiors, to allow a passage to the American 
army ; that he had heard of the reduction of St. Marks; and that 
General Jackson, at the head of his army, was approaching in 
the direction of Pensacola. He had seen the president's mes- 
sage of the 25th of March, and reminded General Jackson of it, 
to satisfy him that the American government could not have 
autiiorized all those measures. Mr. C. said he could not read 
the allusion made by the governor to that message, without feel- 
ing that the charge of insincerity, which it implied, had at least 
but too much the appearance of truth in it. Could the governor 
have done less than write some such letter? We have only to 
reverse situations, and to suppose him to have been an American 
governor. General Jackson says, that when he received that 
letter, he no longer hesitated. No, sir, he did no longer hesitate. 
He received it on the 23d, he was in Pensacola on the 24th, and 
immediately after set himself before the fortress of San Carlos de 
Barancas, which he shortly reduced. Veni, vidi, vici. Wonderful 
energy ! Admirable promptitude. Alas ! that it had not been an 
energy and a promptitude within the pale of the constitution, and 
according to the orders of tlie chief magistrate ! It was impossible 
to give any definition of war, that would not comprehend these 
acts. It was open, undisguised, and unauthorized hostility. 

The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts had endeavored 
to derive some authority to General Jackson from the message 
of the President, and the letter of the Secretary of War to Gov. 



106 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

Bibb. The message declares that the Spanish authorities are to 
be respected wherever maintained. What the President meana 
by their being maintained, is explained in the orders themselves, 
by the extreme case being put of the enemy seeking shelter under 
a Spanish lort. If even in that case he was not to attack, cer- 
tainly he was not to attack in any case of less strength. The 
letter to Gov. Bibb admits of a similar explanation. When the 
Secretary says, in that letter, that General Jackson is fully em- 
powered to bring the Seminole war to a conclusion, he meana 
that he is so empowered by his orders, which, being now before 
us, must speak for themselves. It does not appear that General 
Jackson ever saw that letter, which was dated at this place after 
the capture of St. Marks. He would take a momentary glance 
at the orders. On the 2d of December, 1817, General Gaines 
was forbidden to cross the Florida line. Seven days after, the 
Secretary of War, having arrived here, and infused a little more 
energy into our councils, he was authorized to use a sound dis- 
cretion in crossing it or not. On the 16th, he was instructed 
again to consider himself at liberty to cross the line, and pursue 
tlie enemy ; but, if he took refuge under a Spanish fortress, the 
fact was to be reported to the department of war. These or- 
ders were transmitted to General Jackson, and constituted, or 
ought to have constituted, his guide. There was then no justi- 
fication for the occupation of Pensacola, and the attack on the 
Barancas, in the message of the President, the letter to Gov. 
Bibb, or in the orders themselves. The gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts would pardon him for saying that he had undertaken 
what even his talents were not competent to — the maintenance 
of directly contradictory propositions, that it was right in Gene- 
ral Jackson to take Pensacola, and wrong in the President to 
keep it. The gentleman has made a greater mistake than he 
supposes General Jackson to have done in attacking Pensacola 
for an Indian town, by attempting the defence both of the Presi- 
dent and General Jackson. If it were right in him to seize the 
place, it is impossible that it should have been right in the Presi- 
dent immediately to surrender it. We, sir, are the supporters 
of the President. We regret that we cannot support General 
Jackson also. The gentleman's liberality is more comprehensive 
than ours. I approve, with all my heart, of the restoration of 
Peniacola. I think St. Marks ought, perhaps, to have been also 
restored; but I say this with doubt and diffidence. That the 
President thought the seizure of the Spanish posts was an act 
of war, is manifest from his opening message, in which he saya 
that, to have retained them, would have changed our rela- 
tions with Spain, to do which the power of the executive was 
incompetent, Congress alone possessing it. The President has, 
in this instance, deserved well of his country. He has taken the 
only course Avhich he could have pursued, consistent with the 
constitution of the land. And he defied the gentleman to make 
good both his positions, that the General was right in taking, 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 107 

and the President right in giving up the posts. (Mr. Holmes 
explained. We took these posts, he said, to keep them from the 
hands of the enemy, and, in restoring them, made it a condition 
that Spain sliould not let our enemy have them. We said to 
her, here is your dagger ; we found it in the hands of our enemy, 
and, having wrested it from him, we restore it to you, in the 
hope that you will take better care of it for the future.) Mr. C. 
proceeded. The gentleman from Massachusetts was truly un- 
fortunate ; fact or principle was always against him. The Spa- 
nish posts were not in the possession of the enemy. One old 
Indian only was found in the Barancas, none in Pensacola, none 
in St. Marks. There was not even the color of a threat of In- 
dian occupation as it regards Pensacola and the Barancas. — 
Pensacnla was to be restored unconditionally, and might, there- 
fore, immediately have come into the possession of the Indians, 
if they had the power and the will to take it. The gentle- 
man was in a dilemma, from which there Avas no escape. Hr-. 
gave up General Jackson when he supported the President, anc' 
gave up the President when he supported General Jackson. Mr. 
C. said that he rejoiced to have seen the President manifesting, 
by tlie restoration of Pensacola, his devotedness to the constitu- 
tion. When the whole country was ringing with plaudits for its 
capture, he said, and he said alone, in the limited circle in which 
he moved, that the President must surrender it; that he could 
not hold it. It Avas not his intention, he said, to inquire whether 
the army was or was not constitutionally marched into Florida. 
It was not a clear question, and he was inclined to think that 
the express authority of Congress ought to have been asked. 
The gentleman from Massachusetts would allow him to re- 
fer to a part of the correspondence at Ghent different from 
that which he had quoted. He would find the condition of the 
Indians there accurately defined. And it was widely variant 
from the gentleman's ideas on this subject. The Indians, ac- 
cording to the statement of the American commissioners at 
Ghent, inhabiting the United States, have a qualified sovereignty 
only, the supreme sovereigntj^ residing in the government of the 
United States. They live under their own laws and customs, 
may inhabit and hunt their lands; but acknowledge the protec- 
tion of the United States, and have no right to sell their lands 
but to the government of the United States. Foreign powers 
or foreign subjects have no right to maintain any intercourse 
with them, without our permission. They are not, therefore, in- 
dependent nations, as the gentleman supposed. Maintaining 
the relation described with them, we must allow a similar rela- 
tion to exist between Spain and the Indians residing within her 
dominions. She must be, therefore, regarded as the sovereign 
of Florida, and we are accordingly treating with her for the pur- 
chase of it. In strictness, then, we ought first to have demanded 
of her to restrain the Indians, and, that failing, we should have 
demanded a right of passage for our army. But, if the Presi- 



108 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

dent liad the power to march an army into Florida without con- 
sulting Spain, and without the authority of Congress, he had no 
power to authorize any act of lioi^tility against her. If the gen- 
tleman had even succeeded in showing that an authority was 
c-onveyed by the executive to General Jackson fo take the Spa- 
nish posts, lie would only have established that unconstitutional 
orders had been given, and thereby transferred the disajiproba- 
lion from the military officer to the executive. But no such or- 
ders were, in trutli, given. The President had acted in con- 
formity to the constitution, when he forbade the attack of a 
Spanish fort, and Avhen, in the same spirit, he surrendered the 
posts themselves. 

He would not trespass much longer upon the time of the 
committee; but he trusted he should be indulged mth some few 
reflections upon the danger of permitting the conduct on which 
it had been his painful duty to animadvert, to pass, without a 
solemn expression of the disapprobation of this House. Reca! 
to your recollection, said he, the free nations which have gone 
before us. Where are they now? 

Gone fflimmering Ihrough the dream of things ihat were, 
A school boy's tale, the wonder of an hour. 

And how have they lost their liberties? If we could transport 
ourselves back to the ages when Greece and Rome flourished 
in their greatest prosperity, and, mingling in the throng, should 
ask a Grecian if he did not fear that some daring military chief- 
tain, covered with glor}', some Philip or Alexander, would one 
day overthrow the liberties of his country? the confident and 
indignant Grecian would exclaim, no! no! we have nothing to 
fear from our heroes; our liberties will be eternal. If a Roman 
citizen had been asked, if he did not fear that the conqueror of 
Gaul might establish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, 
lie would have instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet 
Greece had fallen, Cresar had passed the Rubicon, and the pa- 
triotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his 
devoted country! The celebrated Madame dc Stacl, in her last 
and perhaps her best worlc, has said, that in the very year, al- 
most the very month, when the President of the Directory de- 
clared that monarchy would never more show its frightlul head 
in France, Bonaparte, witli his grenadiers, entered the palace of 
St Cloud, and dispersing, with the bayonet, the deputies of the 
people, deliberating on the aflairs of the state, laid the foundation 
of tliat vast fabric of despotism which overshadowed all Europe. 
He hoped not to be misunderstood; he was far irom intimating 
that General Jackson cherished any designs inimical to tlie liber- 
ties of the country. He believed his intentions to be pure and 
Patriotic. He thanked God that he would not, but he thanked 
im still more that he could not, if he would, overturn the liber- 
ties of the republic. But precedents, if bad, were fraught with 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 109 

the most dangerous consequences. Man has been described, by 
some of those who have treated of his nature, as a bundle of 
habits. The definition was mucli truer wlien apphed to govern- 
ments. Precedents were their habits. There was one important 
difference between the formation of habits by an individual and 
by governments. He contracts it only after frequent repetition. 
A single instance fixes the habit and determines the direction of 
governments. Against the alarming doctrine of unlimited dis- 
cretion in our military commanders, when applied even to prison- 
ers of war, he must enter his protest. It began upon themj it 
would end on us. He hoped our happy form of government wa.s 
destined to be perpetual. But, if it were to be preserved, it must 
be by the practice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by mag- 
nanimity, by greatness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady 
eye on the executive; and, above all, by holding to a strict ac- 
countability the military branch of the public force. 

We are fighting, said Mr. C, a great moral battle, for the 
benefit not onlj' of our country, but of all mankind. The eyes of 
the whole world are in fixed attention upon us. One, and the 
largest portion of it, is gazing with contempt, with jealousy, and 
with envy ; the other portion, with hope, with confidence, and 
with affection. Every where the black cloud of legitimacy is 
suspended over the world, save only one bright spot, which 
breaks out from the political hemisphere of the west, to enlighten 
and animate, and gladden the human heart. Obscure that, by 
the downfall of liberty here, and all mankind are enshrouded in a 
pall of universal darkness. To you, Mr. Chairman, belongs the 
high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to posterity, the fair 
character and liberty of our country. Do you expect to execute 
this high trust, by trampling, or suffering to be trampled down, 
law, justice, the constitution, and the rights of other people ? By 
exhibiting examples of inhumanity, and cruelty and ambition 1 
When the minions of despotism heard, in Europe, of the seizure 
of Pensacola, how did they chuckle, and chide the admirers of 
our institutions, tauntingly pointing to the demonstration of a 
spirit of injustice and aggrandizement made by our country, in 
the midst of amicable negotiation. Behold, said they, the conduct 
of those who are constantly reproaching kings. You saw how 
those admirers were astounded and hung their heads. You saw 
too, when that illustrious man, who presides over us, adopted his 
pacific, moderate and just course, how they once more lifted up 
their heads with exultation and delight beaming in their counte- 
nances. And you saw how those minions themselves were finally 
compelled to unite in the general praises bestowed upon our gov- 
ernment. Beware how you forfeit this exalted character. Be- 
ware how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant period of our 
republic, scarcely yet two score years old, to military insubordJi> 
ation. Remember that Greece had her Alexander, Rome her 
Csesar, England her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and that 
10 



no ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

if we would escape tlie rock on which they split we must avoid 
their errors. 

How different has been the treatment of General Jackson, and 
that modest but heroic young man, a native of one of the small- 
est states in the Union, who achieved for his country, on Lake 
Erie, one of the most glorious victories of the late war. In a 
moment of passion he forgot himself, and offered an act of violence 
Avhich was repented of as soon as perpetrated. He was tried, 
and suiifered the judgment to be pronounced by his peers. Pub- 
lic justice was thought not even then to be satisfied. The press 
and Congress took up the subject. My honorable friend from 
Virginia"^(Mr. Johnson) the faithful and consistent sentinel of 
the law and of the constitution, disapproved in that instance, as 
he does in this, and moved an inquiry. The public mind remain- 
ed agitated and unappeased until the recent atonement so honor- 
ably°made by the gallant commodore. And was there to be a 
distinction between the officers of the two branches of the public 
service? Are tbrmer services, however eminent, to preclude 
even inquiry into recent misconduct? Is there to be no limit, no 
prudential bounds to the national gratitude ? He was not dis- 
posed to censure the President tor not ordering a court of inquiry 
or a general court martial. Perhaps, impelled by a sense of 
gratitude, he determined by anticipation to extend to the General 
that pardon which he had the undoubted right to grant after 
sentence. Let us, said Mr. C, not shrink from our duty. Let 
us assert our constitutional powers, and vindicate the instrument 
from military violation. 

He hoped gentlemen would deliberately survey the awful 
isthmus on which we stand. They may bear down all opposi- 
tion ; they may even vote the General the public thanks ; they 
may carry him triumphantly through this hout^e. But, if they 
do, in my humble judgment, it will be a triumph of tJie principle 
of insubordination — a triumph of the military over the civil au- 
thority — a triumph over the powers of this house — a triumph 
over the constitution of the land. And he prayed most devoutly 
to heaven, that it might not prove, in its ultimate effects and 
consequences, a triumph over the liberties of the people. 



ON THE TARIFF. Ill 



ON THE TARIFF. 

Speech on the Tariff, delivered in the House of Representa- 
tives, 26th April, 1820, 

Mr. Chairman, 

Whatever may be the value of my opinions on tlie interesting 
subject now before us, they have not been hastily formed. It 
may possibly be recollected by some gentlemen, that I expressed 
them when the existing tariff was adopted ; and that I then urg- 
ed, that the period of the termination of the war, during Avhich 
the manufacturing industry of the country had received a pow- 
erful spring, was precisely that period when goverimient was 
alike impelled, by duty and interest, to protect it against the free 
admission of foreign fabrics, consequent upon a state of peace. 
I insisted, on that occasion, that a less measure of protection 
would prove more efficacious, at that time, than one of greater 
extent at a future day. My wishes prevailed only in part ; and 
we are now called upon to decide whether we will correct the 
error which, I think, we then committed. 

In considering the subject, the first important inquiry that we 
should make is, whether it be desirable that such a portion of the 
capital and labor of the country should be employed, in the busi- 
ness of manufacturing as would furnish a supply of our neces- 
sary wants? Since the first colonization of America, the princi- 
pal direction of the labor and capital of the inhabitants has been 
to produce raw materials for the consumption or fabrication of 
foreign nations. We have always had, in great abundance, the 
means of subsistence, but we have derived chiefly from other 
countries our clothes, and the instruments of defence. Except 
during those interruptions of commerce arising from a state of 
war, or from measures adopted for vindicating our commercial 
rights, we have experienced no very great inconvenience here- 
tofore from this mode of supply. The limited amount of our sur- 
plus produce, resulting from the smallness of our numbers, and 
tlie long and arduous convulsions of Europe, secured us good 
markets for that surplus in her ports or those of her colonies. 
But those convulsions have now ceased, and our population has 
reached nearly ten millions. A new epoch has arisen ; and it 
becomes us deliberately to contemplate our own actual condition, 
and the relations which are likely to exist between us and the 
other parts of the world. The actual state of our population, 
and the ratio of its progressive increase when compared with tfie 
ratio of the increase of the population of the countries which 
have hitherto consumed our raw produce, seem, to me, alone to 
demonstrate the necessity of diverting some portion of our in- 
dustry from its accustomed channel. We double our population 
in about the term of twenty-five years. If there be no change 
in the mode of exerting our industry, we shall double, during the 



112 ON THE TARIFF. 

same term, the amount of oitr exportable produce. Europe, in- 
cluding sucli of her colonies as we have fn?e access to, taken al- 
together, does not duplicate her population in a shorter term, 
^wobabiy, than one hundred years. The ratio of the increase of 
her capacity of consumption, therefore, is, to that of our capacity 
of" production, as one is to four. And it is manifest, from the sim- 
ple exhibition of the powers of tlie consuming countries, com- 
pared with those of the supplying country, that the former are 
inadequate to the latter. It is certainly true, that a portion of 
the mass of our raw produce, which we transmit to her, reverts 
to us in a fabricated form, and that this return augments witli 
our increasing population. This is, however, a very inconside- 
rable addition to her actual ability to aflbrd a market for the pro- 
duce of our industry. 

I believe that we are already beginning to experience the want 
of capacity in Europe to consume our surplus produce. Take 
tJie great articles oi' cotton, tobacco, and bread-stutl's. For the 
latter we have scarcely any foreign demand. And is there not 
reason to believe that we have reached, if we have not passed, 
tlte maximum of the foreign demand for the otlier two articles? 
Considerations connected with the cheapness of cotton, as a raw 
material, and the facility with which it can be fabricated, will 
probably make it be more and more used as a substitute for oth- 
er materials. But, after you allow to the demand Ibr it, the ut- 
most extension of which it is susceptible, it i^ yet quite limited — 
limited by the number of persons who use it, by their wants, and 
their ability to supply them. If we have not reached, therefore, 
the maximum of the foreign demand, (as I believe we have) we 
must soon fully satisfy it. With respect to tobacco, that article 
atlbrding an enjoyment not necessary, as food and clothes are, to 
human existence, the foreign demand for it is still more precari- 
ous, and I apprehend tliat we have already passed its limits. It 
appears to me, then, that, if we consult our interest merely, Ave 
ought to encourage home manufactures. But there were other 
motives to recommend it, of not less importance. 

The wants of man may be classed under three great heads — 
food, raiment, and defence. They are felt alike in the state of 
barbarism and of civilization. He must be defended against the 
ferocious beasts of prey in the one condition, and against the 
ambition, violence, and injustice, incident to the other. If he 
seeks to obtain a supply of those wants without giving an equi- 
valent, he is a beggar or a robber ; if, by promising an equiva- 
lent which he cannot give, he is fraudulent ; and if, by a com- 
merce, in which there is perfect freedom on his side, whilst he 
meets with nothing but restrictions on the other, he submits to an 
unjust and degrading inequality. What is true of individuals is 
equally so of nations. The country, then, which relies upon for- 
eign nations for either of those great essentials, is not, in fact, inde- 
pendent. Nor is it any consolation for our dependence upon other 
nations, that they also are dependent upon us, even were it true. 



ON THE TARIFF. 113 

Every nation should anxiously endeavor to establish its absolute 
independence, and consequently be able to feed and clothe and 
defend itself. If it rely upon a foreign supply, that may be cut 
off by the capiice of the nation yielding it, by war with it, or even 
by war with other nations, it cannot be independent. But it is 
not true that any other nations depend upon us in a degree any 
thing like equal to that of our dependence upon them for tlxe 
great necessaries to whirh I have referred. Eveiy- other nation 
seeks to supply itself witli them from its own resources ; and, so 
strong is the desire which they feel to accomplish this purpose, 
tliat they exclude the cheaper foreign article for tlie dearer home 
production. Witness the English policy in regard to corn. So 
selfish, in this respect, is the conduct of other powers, that, in 
eome instances, they even prohibit the produce of the industry 
of their own colonies, when it comes into competition with the 
produce of the parent country. All other countries but our own 
exclude, by high duties, or absolute prohibitions, whatever they 
can respectively produce within themselves. The truth is, and 
it is in vain to disguise it, that we are a sort of independent col- 
onies of England — politically free, commercially slaves. Gentle- 
men tell us of the advantages of a free exchange of the produce 
of the world. But they tell us of what has never existed, does 
not exist, and perhaps never will exist. They invoke us to give 
perfect freedom on our side, whilst in the ports of every other na- 
tion, we are met with a code of odious restrictions, shutting out 
entirely a great part of our produce, and letting in only so much 
as tliey cannot possibly do without. I will hereafter examine 
their favorite maxim, of leaving things to themselves, more par- 
ticularly. At present I will only say that I too am a friend to free 
trade, but it must be a free trade of perfect reciprocity. If tlic 
governing consideration Avere cheapness; if national independence 
were to weigh nothing ; if honor nothing;whynot subsidize foreign 
powers to defend us '? why not hire Swiss or Hessian mercenaries 
to protect us ? why not get our arms of all kinds, as we do, in part, 
the blankets and clothing of our soldiers, from abroad? We should 
probably consult economy by these dangeroiis expedients. 

But, say gentlemen, there are to the manufacturing system 
some inherent objections, Avhich should induce us to avoid its 
introduction into this country: and we are warned by the exam- 
ple of England, by her pauperism, by the vices of her popula- 
tion, her wars, &c. It would be a strange order of Providence, 
if it were true, that He should create necessary and indispensable 
wants, and yet should render us unable to supply them without 
the degradation or contamination of our species. 

Pauperism is, in general, the effect of an overflowing popu- 
lation. Manufactures may undoubtedly produce a redundant 
population; but so may commerce, and so may agriculture. In 
this respect they are alike ; and, from whatever cause the dispro- 
portion of a population to the subsisting faculty of a country 
10* 



114 ON THE TARIFF. 

may proceed, its effect of pauperism is the same. Many parts 
of Asia would exhibit, perhaps, as afflicting effects of an extreme 
prosecution of the agricuUural system, as England can possi- 
bly lurnish, respecting the manufacturing. It was, not, how- 
ever, fair to argue iroiii these extreme cases, against either the 
one system or the other. There are abuses incident to every 
branch of industry, to every profession. It would not be thought 
very just or wise to arraign the honorable professions of law and 
physic, because the one produces the pettifogger, and the other 
the quack. Even in England it has been established, by the 
diligent search of Colquhoun, from the most authentic evidence, 
the judicial records of the country, that the instances of crime 
■were much more numerous in the agricultural than in the manu- 
facturing districts; thus proving that the cause of wretchedness 
and vice, in that country, was to be sought for, not in this or thai, 
system, so much as in the fact of the density of its population. 
France resembles this country more than England, in respect to 
tlie employments of her pojuilalion ; and we do not find that 
there is any thing in the condition of the manufacturing portion 
of it which ought to dissuade us from the introduction of it into 
our own country. But even France has not that great security 
against the abuses of the manufacturing system, against the el- 
fecis of too great a density of population, which we possess in 
our vv^aste lands. Whilst this resource exists, we have nothing 
to apprehend. Do capitalists give too low wages — are the la- 
borers too crowded, and in danger of starving — the unsettled 
lands will draw oil the redundancy, and leave the others better 
provided for. If an unsettled province, such as Texas, for ex- 
ample, could, by some convulsion of nature, be wafted along 
side of, and attached to, the island of Great Britain, the instan- 
taneous effect v/ould be, to draw off the redundant portion of the 
population, and to render more comfortable both the emigrants 
and those whom they would leave behind. I am aware that, 
whilst the public domain is an acknowledged security against 
tiie abuses of the manufacturing, or any other system, it consti- 
tutes, at the same time, an impediment, in the opinion of some, 
to the success of manufacturing industry, by its tendency to pre- 
vent the reduction of the wages of labor.*; Those who urge this 
objection have their eyes too much fixed on the ancient system 
of manufacturing, when manual labor was the principal instru- 
ment which it employed. During the last halt century, since 
the inventions of Arlcvvright, and the long train of improvements 
which followed, the labor of machinery is principally used. I 
have understood, from sources of information which I believe to 
be accurate, that the combined force of all the machinery em- 
ployed by Great Britain, in manufacturing, is equal to the labor 
of one hundred millions of able-bodied men. If we suppose the 
aggregate of the labor of all the individuals which she employs 
in that branch of induj^try to be equal to the united labor of tv.'O 
millions of able-bodied men, (and I should think it does not 



ON THE TARIFF. Il5 

exceed it,) machine labor will stand to manual labor, in the 
proportion of one hundred to two. There cannot be a doubt 
that we have skill and enterprize enough to command the re- 
quisite amount of machine power. 

There are, too, some checks to emigration from the settled 
parts of our country to the waste lands of the west. Distance is 
one, and it is every day becoming greater and greater. There 
exists, also, a natural repugnance (felt less, it is true, in the Uni- 
ted States than elsewhere, but felt even here) to abandoning the 
place of our nativity. Women and children, who could not 
migrate, and who would be comparatively idle if manufactures 
did not exist, may be profitably employed in them. This is a 
very great benefit. I witnessed the advantage resulting from 
the employment of this description of our population, in a visit 
which I lately made to the Walthara manufactory, near Boston, 
There, some hundreds of girls and boys were occupied in sepa- 
rate apartments. The greatest order, neatness, and apparent 
comfort, reigned throughout the whole establishment. The 
daughters of respectable farmers — in one instance I remember 
the daughter of a Senator in the State Legislature — were use- 
fully employed. They Avould come down to the manufactory, 
remain perhaps some months, and return, with their earnings, to 
their lamilies, to assist them througliout the year. But one in- 
stance had occurred, I was informed by the intelligent manager, 
of doubtful conduct on the part of any of the females, and, after 
she was dismissed, there was reason to believe that injustice had 
been done her. Suppose that establishment to be destroyed, 
what would become of all the persons who are there engaged 
so beneficially to themselves, and so usefully to the State? Can 
it bs doubted that, if the crowds of little mendicant boys and 
girls who latest this edifice, and assail us, every day, at its very 
thresholds, as we come in and go out, begging for a cent, were 
employed in some manufacturing establishment, it would be bet- 
ter for them and the city? Those who object to the manufac- 
turing system, should recollect, that constant occupation is the 
best security for innocence and virtue, and that idleness is the 
parent of vice and crime. They should contemplate the labor- 
ing poor with employment, and ask themselves what would be 
their condition without it. If there are instances of hard task- 
masters among the manufacturers, so also are there in agricul- 
ture. The cause is to be sought for, not in the nature of this or 
that system, but in the nature of man. If there are particular 
species of unhealthy employment in manufactures, so there are 
in agriculture also. There has been an idle attempt to ridicule 
the manufacturing system, and we have heard the expression 
'• spinning jenny tenure." It is one of the noblest inventions 
of human skill. It has diffused comforts among thousands who, 
without it, would never >£3ve enjoyed them; and millions yet 
unborn will bless the man by wliom it was invented. Tliree im- 
portant inventions l\ave discinguislied the last half century, eacli 



116 ON THE TARIFF. 

of which, if it Imd happened at long intervals of time from the 
other, would have been sufficient to constitute an epoch in the 
profpress of the useful arts. The first was that of Arkwright ; 
and our own country was entitled to the merit of the other two. 
The world is indebted to Whitney for the one, and to Fulton for 
tJie other. Nothing is secure against the shafts of ridicule. — 
What would be thought of a man who should speak of a cotton- 
gin tenure, or a steam-boat tenure ? 

In one respect tliere is a great difference in favor of manufac- 
tures, when compared with agriculture. It is the rapidity with 
which the whole manufacturing community avail themselves of 
aji improvement. It is instantly communicated and put in ope- 
ration. There is an avidity for improvement in the one system, 
m\ aversion from it in tlie other. The habits of generation after 
generation pass down the long track of time in perpetual succes- 
sion, without the slightest change in agriculture. The plough- 
man who fastens his plough to the tails of his cattle, will not own 
tjiat there is any other mode equal to his. An agricultural people 
will be in the neighborhood of other communities, who have 
made the greatest progress in husbandry, Avithout advancing in 
the slightest degree. Many parts of our country are one hun- 
dred years in advance of Sweden in the cultivation and im- 
provement of the soil. 

It is objected, that the effect of the encouragement of home 
manufactures, by the proposed tariff, will be to diminish the reve- 
nue from the customs. The amount of the revenue from that 
source will depend upon the amount of importations, and the 
measure of these will be the value of the exports from this coun- 
try. The quantity of the exportable produce will depend upon 
the foreign demand ; and there can be no doubt that, under any 
distribution of the labor antl capital of this country from the 
greater allurements which agriculture presents than any other 
species of industry, there would be always a quantity of its pro- 
duce sufficient to satisfy that demand. If there be a diminution 
in the ability of foreign nations to consume our raw produce, in 
the proportion of our diminished consumption of theirs, under the 
operation of this system, that will be compensated by the substi- 
tution of a home to a foreign market, in the same proportion. It 
is true that we cannot remain in the relation of seller, only 
to foreign powers, tor any length of time; but if, as I have no 
doubt, our agriculture will continue to supply, as far as it can 
profitably, to the extent of the limits of foreign demand, we shall 
receive not only in return many of the articles on wliich the 
tariff operates, tor our own consumption, but they may also form 
the objects of trade with Soutli America and other powers, and 
our comforts may be multiplied by the importation of other arti- 
cles. Diminished consumption, in consequence of the augmen- 
tation of duties, doe.-" not necessarily imply diminished revenue. 
The increase of the duty may compensate tlte decrease in the con- 
sumption, and give you as large a revenue as you before possessed.j 



ON THE TARIFF. 117 

Can .iny one doubt the impolicy of government resting solely 
■upon the precarious resource of such a revenue ? It is constant- 
ly fluctuating. It tempts us, by its enormous amount, at one 
time, into extravagant expenditure ; and we are tJien driven, by 
its sixdden and unexpected depression, into the opposite extreme. 
We are seduced by its flattering promises into expenses which 
we might avoid ; and we are afterwards constrained, by its 
treachery, to avoid expenses whicii we ought to make. It is a 
system under which there is a sort of perpetual war, between 
the interest of the government and the interest of tlie people. 
Large importations till the coffers of government, and empty tlie 
pockets of the people. Small importations imply prudence on 
the part of the people, and leave the treasury empty. In war 
the revenue disappears ; in peace it is unsteady. On such a 
system the government will not be able much longer exclusively 
to rely. We all anticipate that we shall have shortly to resort 
to some additional supply of revenue within ourselves. I was 
opposed to the total repeal of the internal revenue. I would 
have preserved certain parts of it at least, to be ready for emer- 
gencies such as now exist. And I am, for one, ready to exclude 
foreign spirits altogether, and substitute for the revenue levied on 
them a tax upon the spirits made within the country. No other 
nation lets in so much of foreign spirits as we do. By the en- 
couragement of home industry you will lay a basis of internal 
taxation, when it gets strong, that will be steady and uniforni, 
yielding alike in peace and in war. We do not derive our abili- 
ty from abroad, to pay taxes. That depends upon our wealth 
and our industry ; and it is the same whatever may be the form 
of levying the public contributions. 

But it is urged, that you tax other interests of the state to sua- 
taii> manufacturers. The business of manufacturing, if encour- 
aged, will be open to all. It is not for the sake of the particular 
individuals, who may happen to be engaged in it, that we pro- 
pose to foster it ; but it is lor the general interest. We think that 
it is necessary to the comfort and well being of -.society, that fab- 
rication, as well as the business of production and distribution, 
should be supported and taken care of Now. if it be even true, 
that the price of the home fabric will be somewhat higher, in the 
first instance, than the rival foreign articles, that consideration 
ought not to prevent our extending reasonable protection to the 
home fabric. Present temporary inconvenience may be well 
submitted to for the sake of future permanent benefit. If the 
experience of all other countries be not utterly fallacious ; if tlie 

ijromises of the manufacturing system be not absolutely illusorj'', 
jy the competition which wdi be elicited, in consequence of your 
parental care, prices will be ultimately brought down to a level 
with that of the foreign commodity. Now, in a scheme of policy 
which is devised for a nation, we should not limit our views to 
its operation, during a single year, or for even a short term of 
years. We should look at its operation for -a considerable time. 



138 ON THE TARIFF, 

and in war as well as in peace. Can there be a doubt, thus con- 
templating it, that we shall be compensated by the certainty and 
steadiness of the supply, in all seasons, and the ultimate reduc- 
tion of the price for any temporary sacrifices we make ? Take 
the example of salt, which the ingenious gentleman from Vir- 
ginia, (Mr. Archer) has adduced. He says, during the war the 
price of that article rose to ten dollars per bushel, and he asks, 
if you would lay a duty, permanent in its duration, of three dol- 
lars per bushel to secure a supply in war. I answer, no, I would 
not lay so high a duty. That which is now proposed, for the 
encouragement of the domestic production, is only five cents per 
bushel. In forty years the duty would amount only to two dol- 
lars. If the recurrence of war, shall be only after intervals of 
forty j^ears' peace, (and we may expect it probably oftener,) 
and if, when it does come, the same price should again be given, 
there will be a clear saving of eight dollars, by promoting the 
domestic fabrication. All society is an aftair of mutual conces- 
sion. If we expect to derive the benefits which are incident to it, 
we must sustain our reasonable share of burthens. The great 
interests which it is intended to guard and cherish, must be sup- 
ported by their reciprocal action and reaction. The harmony of 
its parts is disturbed — the discipline which is necessary to its 
order is incomplete, wlien one of the three great and essential 
branches of its industry is abandoned and unprotected. If you 
want to find an example of order, of freedom from debt, of econo- 
my, of expenditure falling below, rather than exceeding income, 
you will go to the well regulated family of a farmer. You will 
go to the house of such a man as Isaac Shelby. You will not 
find him haunting taverns, engaged in broils, prosecuting angry 
law-suits. You will behold every member of his family clad 
with the produce of their own hands, and usefully employed ; 
the spinning-wlieel and the loom in motion by day break. With 
what pleasure will his wife carry you into her neat dairy, lead 
you into her store-house, and point you to the table cloths, the 
sheets, the counterpanes which lie on this shelf for one daughter, 
or on that for another, all prepared in advance by her provident 
care for the day of their respective marriages. If you want to 
see an opposite example, go to the house of a man who manufac- 
tures nothing at home, whose family resorts to the store for every 
tiling they consume. You will find him perhaps in the tavern, or 
at the shop at tlie cross roads. He is engaged, with the rum 
grog on the table, taking depositions to make out some case of 
usury or fraud. Or perhaps he is furnishing to his lawyer the 
materials to prepare a long bill of injunction in some intricate 
case. The sheriff" is hovering about his farm to serve some new 
writ. On court days. — he never misses attending them — you 
will find him eagerly collecting his witnesses to defend himself 
against the merchant's and doctor's claims. Go to his house, 
and, after the short and giddy period that his wife and daughters 
have flirted about the country in tlieir calico and muslin frocks. 



ON THE TARIFF. 119 

what a scene of discomfort and distress is presented to you there ! 
What the individual family of Isaac Shelby is, I wish to see the 
nation in the aggregate become. But I fear we shall shortly 
have to contemplate its resemblance in the opposite picture. If 
statesmen would carefully observe the conduct of private indi- 
viduals in the management of their own affairs, they would have 
much surer guides, in promoting the interests of the state, than 
the visionary speculations of theoretical writers. 

The manufacturing system is not only injurious to agriculture, 
but. say its opponents, it is injurious also to foreign commerce. 
We ought not to conceal from ourselves our present actual po- 
sition in relation to other powers. During the protracted war 
which has so long convulsed all Europe, and which will probab- 
ly be succeeded by a long peace, we transacted the commercial 
business of other nations, and largely shared with England, the 
carrying trade of the world. Now, every other nation is anxious- 
ly endeavoring to transact its own business, to rebuild its marine 
and to foster its navigation. The consequence of the former 
state of things was, that our mercantile marine and our commer- 
cial employment were enormously disproportionate to the ex- 
changeable domestic produce of our country. And the result of 
the latter will be, that, as the exchanges between this country 
and other nations will hereafter consist principally, on our part, 
of our domestic produce, that marine and that employment Avill 
be brought down to what is necessary to effect those exchanges. 
I regret exceedingly this reduction. I wish the mercantile class 
could enjoy the same extensive commerce that they formerly did. 
But, if they cannot, it would be a folly to repine at what is irre- 
coverably lost, and we should seek rather to adapt ourselves to 
the new circumstances in which we find ourselves. li', as I think, 
we have reached the maximum of our foreign demand for our 
three great staples, cotton, tobacco, and flour, no man will con- 
tend tliat we should go on to produce more and more, to be sent 
to the glutted foreign market, and consumed by devouring ex- 
penses, merely to give employment to our tonnage and to our 
foreign commerce. It would be extremely unwise to accommo- 
date our industry to produce, not what was wanted abroad ; 
but cargoes for our unemployed ships. I would ^ive our for- 
eign trade every legitimate encouragement, and extend it when- 
ever it can be extended profitably. Hitherto it had been stimu- 
lated too highly, by the condition of the worid, and our own 
policy acting on that condition. And we are reluctant to believe 
that we must submit to its necessary abridgment. The habits of 
trade ; the tempting instances of enormous fortunes which had 
been made by the successful prosecution of it, were such that we 
turn with regret from its pursuit ; we still cherish a lingering 
hope; we persuade ourselves that something will occur, how and 
what it may be, we know not, to revive its former activity ; and 
we would push into every untried channel, grope through the 
Dardanelles into the Black Sea, to restore its former profits. I 



120 ON THE TARIFF. 

rfepeat it, let ns proclaim to the people of the United States tlio 
incontestible truth, that our foreiu-u trade must be circumscribed 
by the altered state ot'the world; and, leaving it in the possession 
oi" all the gains which it can now possibly make, let us present 
motives to the capital and labor of our country to employ them- 
selves in fabrication at home.*- There was no danger that, by a 
withdrawal of tliat portion which is unprofitably employed on 
other objects, and an application of it to fabrication, our agricul- 
ture would be too much cramjied. The produce of it would 
always come up to the foreign demand. Such were the superior 
allurements belonging to the cultivation of the soil to all otlier 
branches of industry, that it would always be preferred when it 
can profitably be followed. The foreign demand would, in any 
conceivable state of things, limit the amount of the exportable 
produce of agriculture. The amount of our exportations would 
form the measure of our importations, and, whatever these may 
be, they will constitute the basis of the revenue derivable fron\ 
customs. 

The manufacturing system is favorable to the maintenance of 
peace. Foreign commerce is the great source of foreign wars. 
The eagerness with which we contend for every branch of it ; 
the temptations which it offers, operating alike upon us and our 
foreign competitors, produce constant collisions. No country on 
earth, by tlie extent of its superfices, the richness of its soil, the 
variety of its climate, contains within its own limits more abun- 
dant facilities for supplying all our rational wants than ours does. 
It is not necessary or desirable, however, to cut off all intercour'?e 
with foreign powers. But, after securing a supply, within our- 
selves, of all the great essentials of life, there will be ample scope 
etill left for preserving such an intercourse. If we had no inter- 
course with Ibreign states, if we adopted the policy of China, we 
s^hould have no external wars. And in proportion as wc dimin- 
ish our dependence upon them, shall we lessen the danger of the 
recurrence of war. Our late war would not have existed if the 
counsels of the manufacturers in England had been listened to. 
They finally did prevail, in their steady and persevering effort to 
produce a repeal of the orders in council ; but it was too late to 
prevent the war. Those who attribute to the maimfacturing sys- 
tem the burthens and misfortunes of that country, commit a great 
error. These were probably a joint result of the operation of 
the whole of her systems, and the larger share of it was to be 
ascjibed to her tbreign commerce, and to the ambition of her ru- 
lers, than to any other cause. The war of our revolution, in 
which tliat ambition displayed its monstrous arrogance nnd pre- 
tensions, laid the broad foundation of that enormous debt under 
which she now groans. 

The tendency of reasonable encouragement to our home in- 
dustry, is favorable to the preservation and strength of our con- 
federacy. Now our connexion is merely political. For the sale 
of the surplus of the produce of our agricultural labor, all eyes 



ON THE TARIFF. ^ 121 

are constantly turned upon the markets of Liverpool. There ia 
scarcely any of that beneficial intercou r:;o, the best basis of po- 
litical connexion which consists of the exchange of the produce 
of our labor. On our maritime frontier ih«re has been too much 
stimulus, an unnatural activity; in the g;\:;it interior of the coun- 
try, there exists a perfect paralysis. Encourage fabrication at 
home, and there would instantly arise a;ii;natioa and a healthful 
circulation throughout all the parts of tlie republic. The cheap- 
ness, fertility, and quantity of our waste lands, offered such pow- 
erful inducements to cultivation, that oui- countrymen are con- 
stantly engaging in it. I would not checlc this disposition by 
hard terms in the sale of it. Let it be tasily accessible to all 
who wish to acquire it. But I would countervail this predilec- 
tion by presenting to capital and labor, motives for emplo3^ment 
in other branches of industry. Nothing is more uncertain than 
the pursuit of agriculture, when we maiidy rely upon foreign 
markets ibr the sale of its surplus produce. In the first place, it 
is impossible to determine, a priori, the amount of this surplus ; 
and, in the second, it is equally impossible to anticipate the ex- 
tent of the foreign demand. Both the one and the other depend 
upon the seasons. From the fluctuations incident to these, and 
from other causes, it may happen that the supplying country will 
for a long series of years, have employed a larger share of its 
capital and labor than is wise, in production to supply the wants 
of the consuming countries, without becoming sensible of its de- 
fect of policy. The failure of a crop, or the failure of a market, 
does not discourage the cultivator. He renews his labors anoth- 
er year, and he renews his hopes. It is otherwise with manufac- 
turing industry. The precise quantum of its produce, at least, 
can with some accuracy be previously estimated. And the wants 
of foreign countries can be with some probability anticipated. 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, if I have even had a success, 
which I dare not presume, in the endeavor I have been making 
to show that sound policy requires a diversion of so much of the 
capital and labor of this country from other employments as may 
be necessary, by a different application of them, to secure, within 
ourselves, a steady and adequate supply of the great necessaries 
ot" life, 1 shall have only established one half of what is incum- 
bent upon me to prove. It will still be required by the other 
t;ide, tliat a second proposition be supported, and that is. thai 
government ought to present motives for such a diversion and 
new application of labor and capital, by tiiat species of protec- 
tion which the tariff holds out. Gentlemen say, we agree with 
you; you are right in your first proposition, but, "let things 
alone," and they will come right in the end. Now, I agree witli 
them, that things would ultimately get right : but not until after 
a long period of disorder and distress, terminating in the impov- 
erishment, and perhaps ruin of the comitry. Dissolve govern- 
ment, reduce it to its primitive elements, and, without any gena- 



122 ON THE TARIFF. 

ral effort to reconstruct it, there would arise, out of the anarchy 
which would ensue, partial combinations for tlie purpose of in- 
dividual protection, which would finally lead to a social form, 
competent to the conservation of peace within, and the repulsion 
of force from without. Yet no one would say, in such a state of 
anarchy, let things alone ! If gentlemen, by their favorite max- 
im, mean only that, within the bosom of the state, things are to 
be left alone, and each individual, and each brancli of industry, 
allowed to pursue their respective interests, without giving a pre- 
I'erence to either, I subscribe to it. But if they give it a more 
comprehensive import; if they require that things be left alone, 
in respect not only to interior action, but to exterior action also; 
not only as regards the operation of our own government upon 
the mass of the interests of the state, but as it relates to the op- 
eration of foreign governments upon that mass, I dissent from it. 
This maxim, in this enlarged sense, is indeed every where pro- 
claimed ; but no where practised. It is truth in the books of Eu- 
ropean political economists. It is error in the practical code of 
every European state. It is not applied where it is most appli- 
cable ; it is attempted to be introduced here, where it is least ap- 
plicable ; and even here its friends propose to limit it to the sin- 
gle branch of manufacturing industry, whilst every other interest 
is encouraged and protected acccording to the policy of Europe. 
The maxim would best suit Europe, where each interest is ad- 
justed and arranged to every other, by causes operating during 
many centuries. Every thing there has taicen and preserved its 
ancient position. The house that was built centuries ago, is oc- 
cupied by the descendants of its original constructor. If one 
could rise up, after the lapse of ages, and enter a European shop, 
he would see the same hammer at work, on the same anvil or 
last, and almost by the same hand. There every thing has found 
its place and its level, and every thing, one would think, might 
tJiere be safely left alone. But the policy of the European states 
is otherwise. Here every thing is new and unfixed. Neither 
the state, nor the individuals who compose it, have settled down 
in their firm and permanent positions. There is a constant ten- 
dency, in consequence of the extent of our public domain, to- 
wards production for foreign markets. The maxim, in the con:i- 
prehensive sense in which I am considerincf it, requires, to enti- 
tle it to observation, two conditions, neitiier of Vv'hich exists. 
First, that there should be perpetual peace, and secondly, thfit 
the maxim should be every where respected. When war breaks 
out, that free and general circulation of the produce of industry, 
among the nations which it recommends, is interrupted, and the 
nation that depends upon a foreign supply of its necessaries, must 
be subjected to the greatest inconvenience. If it be not every 
where observed, there will be, between the nation that does not, 
and tlie nation that does, conform to it, an inequality alike con- 
demned by honor and by interest. If there be no reciprocity • 
if, on the one side, there is perfect freedom of trade, and on tlir 



ON THE TARIFF. 123 

other a code of odious restrictions, will gentlemen still contend 
that we are to submit to such an unprofitable and degrading in- 
tercourse? Will they require that we shall act upon the social 
Bystem, whilst every other power acts upon the selfish 1 Will 
they demand of us to throw widely open our ports to every na- 
tion, whilst all otJier nations entirely or partly exclude theirs 
against our productions '? It is, indeed, possible, that some pecu- 
niary advantage might be enjoyed by our country in prosecu- 
ting the remnant of the trade which the contracted policy of oth- 
er powers leaves to us. But what security is there for our con- 
tinuing to enjoy even that ? And, is national honor, is national 
independence to count as nothing? I will not enter into a detail 
of the restrictions with which we are every where presented in 
foreign countries. I will content myself with asserting that they 
take nothing from us which they can produce themselves, upon 
even worse terms than we could supply them. Take, again, as 
an example, the English corn laws. America presents the im- 
age of a fine generous hearted young fellow, who has just come 
to the possession of a rich estate — an estate, which, however, re- 
quires careful management. He makes nothing ; he buys every 
thing. He is surrounded by a parcel of Jews, each holding out 
his hand with a packet of buttons or pins, or some other com- 
modity, for sale. If he asks tliose Jews to buy any thing which 
his estate produces, they tell him no ; it is not lor our interest; it 
is not for yours. Take this new book, says one of them, on po- 
litical economy, and you will there perceive it is for j^our interest 
lo buy from us, and to let things alone in your own country. The 
gentleman from Virginia, to whom I have already referred, has 
surrendered the whole argument, in the example of the East In- 
dia trade. He thinlis that because India takes nothing but spe- 
cie from us ; because there is not a reciprocal exchange between 
VIS and India, of our respective productions, that the trade ought 
to be discontinued. Now I do not agree with him, tliat it ought 
to be abandoned, though I would put it under considerable re- 
Ktrictions, when it comes in competition with the' fabrics of our 
own country. If the want of entire reciprocity he a sufficient 
ground for the total abandonment of a particular branch of trade, 
tlie same principle requires that, where there are some restrictions 
on the one side, they should be countervailed by equal restrictions 
«n the other. 

But this maxim, according to which gentlemen would .have 
013 abandon tlie home industry of the country, to the influence 
of the restrictive systems of other countries, without an effort to 
protect and preserve it, is not itself observed by the same gen- 
tlemen, in regard to the great interests of the nation. We pro- 
tect our fisheries by bounties and drawbacks. We protect our 
tonnage, by excluding a restricting ibreign tonnage, exactly as 
our tonnage is excluded or restricted by foreign states. We 
passed, a year or two ago, the bill to prohibit British navigation 
from the West India colonies of that power to the United StateSj 



124 ON THE TARIFF, 

because ours is shut out from them. The sesrion prior to the 
passage of that law, the gentleman from South Co-ojina and I, 
almost alone, urged the House to pass it. But the subject was 
postponed until the next session, when it was passed by nearly a 
unanimous vote, the gentleman from South Carolina, and the two 
gentlemen from Virginia, (Messrs. Barbour and Tyler,) voting 
with the majority. We have now upon our table other bills con- 
nected with tJiat object, and proposing restriction upon the French 
tonnage to countei vail theirs upon ours. I shall, with pleasure, 
vote for these measures. We protect our foreign trade, by consuls, 
by foreign mnnisters, by embargoes, by non-intercourse, by a navy, 
by fortirications. by squadrons constantly acting abroad, by war, 
and by a variety of coinmercial regulations in our statute book. 
The whole system of the general government, from its first forma- 
tion to the present time, consists, almost exclusively, in one unre- 
mitting endeavor to nourish, and protect, and defend the foreign 
trade. Why have not all these great interests been lel't to the ope- 
ration of the gentlemen's lavorite maxim? Sir, it is periectly right 
that v/e should have aiforded this protection. And it is perfectly 
right, in my humble opinion, that we should extend the principle 
to the home industry. I am a friend to foreign trade, but I pro- 
test against its being the monopolist of all tlie parental favor 
and care of this government. 

But, sir, friendly as 1 am to the existence of domestic manu- 
factures, I would not give to them unreasonable encouragement, 
by protecting dnlies. Their growth ought to be gradual, but 
sure. I believe all the circumstances of the present period highly 
favorable to their success. But they are the youngest and the 
weakest interest of the .slate. Agriculture wants but little or no 
protection against the regulations of foreign powers. The ad- 
vantages of our position, and the cheapness and abundance and 
fertility of our land, afford to that greatest interest of the state 
almost all the protection it wants. As it should be, it is strong 
and flourishing; or, if it be not, at this moment, prosperous, it is 
not because its produce is not ample, but because, depending, as 
we do altogether u])on a foreign market lor the sale of the sur- 
plus of that produce, the foreign market is glutted. Our foreign 
trade having almost exclusively engrossed the protecting care 
of government, wants no further legislative aid. And, whatever 
depression it may now experience, it is attributable to causes 
beyond the control of this government. The abundance of capi- 
tal, indicated by the avidity witli which loans are sought, at the 
reduced rate of five per centum; the reduction in the wages of 
labor, and the decline in the price of properly of every kind, as 
well as tliat of agricultural produce, all concur favorably lor do- 
mestic manuf ictures. Now, as when we arranged the existing 
tariff, is the aus;,iicious moment for government to step in and 
cheer and countenance tJiem. We did too little then, and I en- 
deavored to v.'arn this House of the effects of inadequate pro- 
tection. "We Avere called upon, at that time, by the previoua 



ON THE TARIFF. 125 

pledges we had given, by the inundation of foreign fabrics, 
which was to be anticipated from their free admission after the 
termination of tlie war, and by the lasting interests of this coun- 
try, to give them efficient support. We did not do it; but let us 
not now repeat the error. Our great mistake has been in the 
irregularity of the action of the measures of this government 
upon manufacturing industry. At one period it is stimulated too 
high, and then, by an opposite course of policy, it is precipitated 
into a condition of depression too low. First there came the 
embargo ; then non-intercourse, and other restrictive measures 
followed, and finally, that greatest of all stimuli to domestic fab- 
rication, war. During all that long period, we were adding, to 
the positive effect of the measures of government, all the moral 
encouragement which results from popular resolves, legislative 
resolves, and other manifestations of the public Avill and the pub- 
lic wish to foster our home manufactures, and to render our con- 
federacy independent of foreign powers. The peace ensued, 
and the country was flooded with the fabrics of other countries; 
and we, forgetting all our promises, coolly and philosophically 
talk of leaving things to themselves ; making up our deficiency 
of practical good sense, by the stores of learning whicii we col- 
lect from theoretical writers. I, too, sometimes amuse myself 
with the visions of these writers, (as I do with those of meta- 
physicians and novelists,) and, if I do not forget, one of the best 
among them, enjoins it upon a countr}^ to protect its industry 
against the injurious influence of the prohibitions and restrictions 
of foreign countries, v/hich operate upon it. 

Monuments of the melancholy effects, upon our manufactures, 
and of the fluctuating policy of the councils of the Union in re- 
gard to them, abound in all parts of the country. Villages, and 
parts of villages, which sprung up but yesterday in the western 
country, under tiic excitement to which I have referred, have 
dwindled into decay, and are abandoned. In New-England, in 
passing along the highway, one frequently sees large and spa- 
cious buildings, with the glass broken out of the windov/s, the 
shutters hanging in ruinous disorder, without any appearance 
of activity, and enveloped in solitary gloom. Upon inquiring 
what they are, you are almost always informed that they were 
some cotton or other factory, which their proprietors could no 
longer keep in motion against the overwhelming pressure of 
foreign competition. Gentlemen ask for facts to show the expe- 
diency and propriety of extending protection to our manufac- 
tures. Do they Avant stronger evidence than the condition of 
tilings I have pointed out? They ask why the manufacturing 
industry is not resumed under the encouraging auspices of the 
present time? Sir, the answer is obvious; there is a general 
flismay; there is a want of heart; there is the greatest moral 
discouragement experienced throughout the nation. A man 
who enirages in the manufacturing business is thought by his 
^11* 



J26 ON THE TARIFF. 

friends to be du ranged. Who will go to the ruins of Carthage- 
or Balbec 1o rebuild a city there? Let government commence 
a systematic but moderate support of this important branch of 
our industry. Let it announce its fixed purpose, that the pro- 
tection of manufactures against the influence of the measures 
of tbreign governments, will enter iiito the scope of our national 
policy. Let us substitute, to the irregular action of our mea- 
sures, one that shall be steady and uniform ; and hope and ani- 
mation and activity will again revive. The gentleman from 
South Carolina, (Mr. Lowndes,) offered a resolution, which the 
House rejected, having for its object to ascertain the profits now 
made upon capital employed in manufacturing. It is not, I repeat 
it, the individuals, but the interests we wish to have protected.. 
From the infinite variety of circumstances under which ditlerent 
manufacturing establishments are situated, it is impossible that 
any information, such as the gentleman desires, could be obtain- 
ed, that ought to guide the judgment of this House. It may happen 
that, of two establishments engaged in the same species of tabri- 
cation, one will be prospering and the other laboring. Take the 
example of the Walthain manufactory near Boston, and tliat 
of Brunswick in Maine. The former has the advantages of a 
fine wTiter situation, a manager of excellent information, enthu- 
siastically devoted to its succcs.«!, a machinist of most inventive 
genius, who is constantly making some new improvement, and 
who has carried the water loom to a degree of ]ierfection which 
it has not attained in England — to such perfection as to reduce 
the cost of weaving a yard of cloth adapted to shirting to less 
than a cent per yard — while it is abundantly supplied with capi- 
tal bj' several rich capitalists in Boston. These gentlemen have 
the most extensive correspondence with all parts of the United 
States. Owing to this extraordinary combination of flivorable 
circumstances, the Waltham establishment is doing pretty well ; 
whilst that of Brunswick, not possessing all of them, but pcr- 
iiaps as many as would enal)ie it, under adequate protection, to 
fiourish, is laboring arduously. Would gentlemen infer, from 
tlie success of a few institutions having peculiar advantages, 
which form exceptions to the languishing condition of manufac- 
turing industry, that there exists no necessity for protection? la 
the most discouraging state of trade and navigation, there were, 
no doubt, always some individuals who were successful in prose- 
cuting them. Would it be iair to argue, from these instances, 
against any measure brought forward to revive their activity? 

The gentleman Irom Massachusetts, (Mr. Whitman) has 
manifested peculiar hostility to the tariflj and has allowed liim- 
self to denominate^ it a mad, quixotic, ruinous scheme. The 
gentleman i.s dissatisfied with the quarter — the west — from 
which it emanates; To give higher tone and more effect to 
the gentleman's declamation, which is vague and indefinite, he 
has even assunied a new place in this house.' Sir, I would ad'- 
vise the gcnlK::nan to return to his ancient position, moral and 



ON THE. TARIFF, 127 

physical. Tt was respectable and useful. The honorable gen- 
tleman professes to be a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he 
has found an insurmountable constitutional impediment to their' 
encouragement, of which, as no other gentleman has relied 
upon it, I shall leave him in the undisturbed possession. Tho 
honorable gentleman, a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he 
lias delivered a speech, marl<ed Vvfith peculiar emphasis, against 
their protection. The honorable gentleman, a friend to manu- 
turers ! And yet he requires, if this constitutional difficulty 
could be removed, such an arrangement of the tariff as shall 
please him, although every one else should be dissatisfied. The 
intimation is not new of the presumptuousness ot" western poli- 
ticians, in endeavoring to give to the policy of this country such 
a direction as will assert its honor and sustain its interests. It 
was first made whilst the measures preparatory to the late war 
were under consideration, and it now probably emanates from 
the same quarter. The predeliction of the school of the Essex 
junto for foreign trade and British fabrics — I am far from insinu- 
ating that other gentlemen who are opposed to the tariff are ac- 
tuated by any such spirit — is unconquerable. We disregarded 
the intimation when it Avas first made ; we shall be uninfluenced 
by it now. If, indeed, there were the least color for the asser- 
tion, that the foreign trade is to be crushed by the tariff, is it not 
strange that the whole of the representation from all our great 
commercial metropolises should unite to destroy it? The mem- 
ber from Boston, — to whose rational and disinterested course I 
am happy, on this, as on many otiier occasions, to be able to 
testify, — the representatives from the city of New-York, from 
Philadelphia, from Baltimore, all entered into this confederacy, 
to destroy it, by supporting this mad and ruinous scheme. 
Some gentlemen assert that it is too comprehensive. But its 
chief recommen<lation to me is, that it leaves no important inter- 
est unprovided for. 

The same gentlemen, or others, if it had been more limited, 
would have objected to its partial operation. The general 
measure of the protection which it communicates, is pronounced 
to be immoderate and enormous. Yet no one ventures to enter 
into a specification of the particular articles of which it is com- 
posed, to show that it deserves thus to be characterized. The 
article of molasses has, indeed, been selected, and held up as an 
instance of the alleged extravagance. The existing tariff im- 

f)oses a duty of five cents ; the proposed tariff ten cents per gal- 
on. We tax foreign spirits very high, and yet we let in, with a 
very low duty, foreign molasses, which ought to be considered 
as rum in disguise, filhng the space of so much domestic spirits. 
If, (which I do no believe Avill immediately be the case, 1o any 
considerable extent.) the manufacture of spirits from molasses 
should somewhat decline under the new tariff, the manufacture 
of spirits Irom the raw material, produced at home, will be ex- 
tended in the same ratio. Besides the incidental advantage of 



128 ON THE TARIFF. 

increasing our security against the effect offe'casonsj of s-carcit}', 
by increasing the distillation of spirits from gram, there was 
scarcely any item in the tariff which combined so many interests 
in supporting the proposed rate of duty. The grain growing 
country, the fruit country and the culture of cane, would be all 
benefitted by the duty. Its operation is said, however to be in- 
jurious to a certain quarterof the Union. It was not to be denied 
that each particular section of the country would feel some one 
or more articles of the tariff to bear hard upon it, during a short 
period ; but the compensation Avas to be fouad in the more favor- 
able operation of others. Now I am fully persuaded that, in the 
first instance, no part of the Union would more largely than Kew 
England, share in the aggregate of the benefits resulting from 
the tariff. But the habits of economy of her people, their indus- 
try, their skill, their noble enterprise, the stimulating effects of 
their more rigorous climate, all tend to ensure to her the first 
and the richest fruits of the taritf. The middle and ihe western 
states would come in afterwards for their portion, and all would 
participate in tlie advantage of internal exchanges and circula- 
tion. No quarter of the Union could urge, with a worse grace 
than New England, objections to a measure, having for its ob- 
iect the advancementof the interests of the whole ; for no quarter 
of the Union participated more extensively in the benefits flow- 
iniT from tlie general government. Her tonnage, her fisheries, 
her foreign trade, have been constantly objects of federrd care. 
There was expended the greatest portion ol tlie public revenue. 
The building of the public ships ; their equipments ; the expenses 
incident to their remaining in port, chiefly took place there. That 
great drain on the revenue, the revolutionary pension law, in- 
clined principally towards New England. I do not however 
complain of these advantages which she enjoys. She is prob- 
ably fairly entitled to them. But gentlemen from that quarter 
may, at least, be justly reminded of them, when they complain 
of the onerous elfect of one or two items of the tariff. 

Mr. Chairman, I frankly own that I feel great solicitude for 
the success of this bill. The entire independence of my country 
on all foreign states, as it respects a supply of our essential wants, 
lias ever been with me a favorite object. The war of our revo- 
lution effected our political emancipation. The last war contri- 
; buted greatly towards accomplishing our commercial freedom. 
But our complete independence will only be consummated after 
the policy of this bill shall be recognized and adopted. We have 
indeed great difficulties to contend with ; old habits — colonial 
usages — the obduracy of the colonial spirit — the enormous pro- 
fits of a foreign trade, prosecuted under favorable circumstances, 
which no longer continue. I will not despair ; the cause, 1 veri- 
ly believe, is the cause of the country. It may be postponed ; it 
may be frustrated for the moment, but it must finally prevail. 
Let us endeavor to acquire for the present Congress, the merit 
of having laid this solid foundation of the national prosperity. 



ON THE TARIFF. 129 

If, as I think, fatally for the public interest, the bill shallbe defeated, 
what will be the character of the account which we shall have 
to render to our constituents upon our return among them ? We 
shall be asked, what have you done to remedy the disorders of 
the public currency? Why, Mr. Secretary of the Treasury 
made us a long report on that matter, containing much valuable 
information, and some very good reasoning, but, upon the whole, 
we found that subject rather above our comprehension, and we 
concluded that it was wisest to let it regulate itself What have 
you done to supply the deficit in the treasury? We thought 
that, although you are all endeavoring to get out of the banks, it 
A\'as a very good time for us to go into them, and we have au- 
thorized a loan. You have done something, then, certainly, on 
the subject of retrenchment. Here, at home, v/e are practising 
the greatest economy, and our daughters, no longer able to wear 
calico gowns, are obliged to put on homespun. Why, ws have 
saved, by the indefatigable exertions of a member from Tennes- 
eee, — General Cocke, — fifty thousand dollars, which were want- 
ed lor tlie Yellow Stone expedition. No, not quite so much ; lor 
thirty thousand dollars of that sum were still wanted, although 
we stopped the expedition at the Council Bluffs. And we have 
saved another sum, which we hope will give you great satisfac- 
tion. After nearly two days' debate, and a division between the 
two houses, we struck off two hundred dollars from the salary 
of the clerk of the attorney-general. What have you done to 
protect home industry from the effects of the contracted policy of 
Ibreign powers ? We thought it best, after much deliberation, 
to leave things alone at home, and to continue our encourage- 
ment to foreign industry. Well, surely you have passed some 
law to reanimate and revive the hopes of the numerous bankrupts 
that have been made by the extraordinary circumstances of the 
world, and the ruinous tendency of our policy ? No ; the senate 
could not agree on that subject, and the bankrupt bill failed I 
Can v/e plead, sir, ignorance of the general distress, and of the 
ardent wishes of the community for that protection of its indus- 
try, which this bill proposes? No, sir, almost daily, throughout 
the session, have v/e been receiving petitions, with which our 
table is now loaded, humbly imploring us to extend this protec- 
tion. Unanimous resolutions from important state legislatures 
jiave called upo;i us to give it, and the people of whole states in 
mass — almost in mass, of New-York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
and Ohio — have transmitted to us their earnest, and humble pe- 
titions to encourage the home industr3^ Let us not turn a deaf 
ear to them. Let us not disappoint their just expectations. Let 
us manifest, by the passage of this bill, that Congress does not 
deserve the reproaches which have been cast on it, of insensi- 
bility to the wants and sufierings of the people. 



15(5 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

House of Bepresentatives, January 16, 1824. 

The bill authorizing the President of the United States to 
cause certain surveys and estimates to be made on the subject 
of roads and canals, being under consideration, 

Mr. Clay. (Speaker,) in rising, said that he could not enter on 
the discussion of the subject before him, witliout first asking 
leave to express his thanks for the kindness of the committee, in 
so far accommodating him as to agree unanimously to afijourn 
its sitting to the present time, in order to afford him the opportu- 
nity of exhibiting his views; which, however, he feared he should 
do very unacceptably. As a requital for this kindness, he would 
endeavor, as ik\' as Avas practicable, to abbreviate what he had 
to present to their consideration. Yet, on a question of this ex- 
tent and moment, there were so many topics Avhich demanded a 
deliberate examination, that, from the nature of the case, it 
would be impossible, he was afraid, to reduce the argument to 
any thing that the committee would consider a reasonable com- 
jiass. 

It was known to all who heard him, that there had now exist- 
ed tor several years a difl'erence of opinion between the execu- 
tive and legislative branches of this government, as to the nature 
and extent of certain powers conferred upon it by the constitu- 
tion. Two successive Presidents had returned to Congress bills 
v.'hich liad previously passed both Houses of that body, with a 
communication of the opinion that Congress, under the constitu- 
tion, possessed no power to enact such laws. High respect, 
personal and official, must be felt by all, as it was due, to those 
distinguished officers, n.nd to their opinions, thus solemnly an- 
nounced ; and the most profound consideration belongs to our 
present Chief Magistrate, who had favored that House with a 
written argument, of great length and labor, consisting of not 
less tiian sixty or seventy pages, in support of his exposition of 
the constitution. From tlie magnitude of the interests involved 
in the question, all would readily concur, that, if rhe power is 
granted, and does really exist, it ought to be vindicated, upheld 
and maintained, tliat the country might derive the great benefits 
which may flow from its prudent exercise. If it hao Dot been 
communicated to Congress, then all claim to it should be at once 
surrendered. It was a circumstance of peculiar j egret to him, 
that one more competent than himself had not risen to support 
the course which the legislative department had heretofore felt 
itself bound to pursue on this great question. Of all the trusts 
whicli are created by human agency, that is the highest, most 
solemn, and most responsible, which involves the exercise of 
political power. Exerted when it has not been entrusted, the 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 131 

public functionary is guilty of usurpation. And his infidelity 
to tlie public good is not, perhaps, less culpable, when he neg- 
lects or refuses to exercise a power which has been fairly con- 
veyed, to promote the public prosperity. If the power, which he 
thus forbears to exercise, can only be exerted by him— if no 
other public functionary can employ it, and the public good re- 
quires its exercise, his treachery is greatly aggravated. It is 
only in those cases where the object of the investment of power 
is the personal ease or aggrandizement of the public agent, that 
his forbearance to use it is praiseworthy, gracious or magnani- 
mous. 

He was extremely happy to find, that, on nianji' of the points 
of the argument of the honorable gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. 
Barbour,) there was entire concurrence between them, widely 
as they differed in their ultimate conclusions. On this occasion, 
(as on all others on which that gentleman obliged the House 
with an expression of his opinions,) he displayed great ability 
and ingenuity; and, as well Irom the matter as from the respect- 
ful manner of liis argument, it was deserving of the most thorough 
consideration. He was compelled to differ from that gentleman 
at the very threshold. He had commenced by laying down, as 
a general principle, that, in the distribution of powers among 
our federal and State governments, those v/hich were of a mu- 
nicipal character were to be con.?idered as appertaining to the 
State governments, and those which related to external affairs. 
10 the general government. If he might be allowed to throw 
the argument of the gentleman into the form of a syllogism, (a 
shape which he presumed would be quite agreeable to hira,) it 
amounted to this:. Municipal powers belong exclusively to the 
State governments; but the power to make internal improve- 
ments is municipal; therefore it belongs to the State govern- 
ments alone. He (Mr. C.) denied both the premises and the 
conclusion. If the gentleman had affirmed that certain munici- 
pal powers, and the great mass of them, belong to the State 
governments, his proposition v/ould have been incontrovertible. 
But, if he had so qualified it, it would not have assisted the gen- 
tleman at all in his conclusion. But surely the power of taxa- 
tion — the power to regulate tlie value of coin — the power to es- 
tablish a uniform standard of vv'cights and measures — to establiKh 
post o'llres and post roads — to regulate commerce among the 
several States — that in relation to the judiciary — besides many 
other powers indisputably belonging to the federal government, 
are strictly municipal. If, as he understood the gentleman in 
the course of the subsequent part of his argument to admit, 
some municipal powers belong to the one system, and rome to 
the ether, we shall derive very little aid from the gentleman's 
principle, in making the discrimination between the two. The 
ciuesiion must ever remain open — whether any given power, and, 
of course, that in c[ue3tion, is or is not delegated to this govern- 
ment, or retamed by the Stai.es? 



132 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

The conclusion of the gentleman is, that all internal improve- 
ments belong to the State governments ; that they are of a lim- 
ited and local character, and are not comprehended v/ithin the 
ecope of the federai powers, which relate to external or general 
objects. That many, perhaps most internal improvements, par- 
take of the character described by the gentleman, he (Mr. C.) 
should not deny. But it was no less true that there were otliers, 
emphatically national, which neitlier the policy, nor the pov/er, 
nor the interests, of any State would induce it to accomplish, 
and v/hich could only be eflected by the applica,tion of the re- 
sources of the nation. The improvement of the navigation of 
the Mississippi would furnish a striking example. Tliis was 
undenifibly a great and important object. The report of a highly 
scientific and intelligent ollicer of the engineer corps, (vv'hichMr. 
C. hoped would be soon taken up an^ acted upon,) had shown 
that the cost of any practicable improvement in the navigation 
of that river, in tlie present state of the inhabitants of its banks, 
was a mere trifle in comparison to the great benefits which 
would accrue irom it. He (Mr. C.) believed that about double 
■ llie amount of the loss of a single steara-boat and cargo, (the 
Tennessee,) would effect the whole improvement in the naviga- 
tion of that river which ought to be at this time atj;empted. In 
tiiis great object twelve States and two Territories were, in 
different degrees, interested. The power to effect the improve- 
ment of that river was surely not municipal, in the sense in 
which the gentleman used the term. If it were, to which of the 
twelve States and two Territories concerned did it belong? It 
was a great object, which could only be effected by a confede- 
racy. And here is existing that confederacy, and no other can 
lawfully exist: for the constitution prohibits the States, immedi- 
ately interested, from entering into any treaty or compact Avith 
each other. Other examples might be given, to show that, 
if even the power existed, the inclination to exert it would 
not be felt, to effectuate certain improvements eminently calcu- 
lated to promote the prosperity of the Union. Neither of the 
three States, nor all of them united, through which the Cum- 
berland road passes, would ever have erected that road. Two 
of tliem would have throv.'n in every impediment to its comple- 
tion in their power. Federative in its character, it could only 
have been executed so far by the application of federative 
means. Again: the contemplated canal through New-.Tcrsey; 
that to connect the waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware ; 
that to unite the Ohio and the Potomac, were all objects of a 
general and federative nature, in which the States through 
which diey might severally pass could not be expected to feel 
any such special interest as would lead to their execution. 
Tending, as undoubtedly they would do, to promote tl;e good 
of the whole, the power and the treasure of the whole must be 
applied to their execution, if they are ever consummated. 

Mr. Clay did not think, then, that we should be at all assisted 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 133 

in expounding the constitution of the United States, by tlie prin- 
ciple which the gentleman from Virginia had suggested in res- 
pect to municipal powers. The powers of both governments 
were undoubtedly municipal, often operating upon the same sub- 
ject. He thought a better rule than that which the gentleman 
furnished for interpreting the constitution, might be deduced from 
Tin attentive consideration of the peculiar character of the arti- 
sles of confederation, as contrasted with that of the present con- 
stitution. By those articles, the powers of the thirteen United 
States were exerted collaterally. They operated through an in- 
termediary. They were addressed to the several states, and their 
execution depended upon the pleasure and the co-operation of 
the states individually. The states seldom fulfilled the expecta- 
tions of the general government in regard to its requisitions, and 
often wholly disappointed them. Langour and debility, in the 
movement of the old confederation, were the inevitable conse- 
quence of that arrangement of power. By the existing consti- 
tution, the powers of the general government act directly on the 
persons and things within its scope, without the intervention or 
impediments incident to any intermediary. In executing the 
great trust which the constitution of the United States create.s, 
we must, therefore, reject that interpretation of its provisions 
which would make the general government dependent upon those 
of the states for the execution of any of its powers ; and may 
safely conclude that the only genuine construction would be that 
which should enable this government to execute the great pur- 
poses of its institution, without the co-operation, and, if indispen- 
sably necessary, even against the Avill of any particular state. 
This is the characteristic difference between the two systems of 
government, of which we should never lose sight. Interpreted 
in the one Avay, we shall relapse into the feebleness and debility 
of the old confederacy. In the other, we shall escape from its 
evils, and fulfil the great purposes which the enlightened framers 
of the existing constitution intended to effectuate. The impor- 
tance of this essential difference in the two forms of government, 
vould be shown in the future progress of the argument. 

Before he proceeded to comment upon those parts of the con- 
stitution which appeared to him to convey the power in question, 
he hoped he should be allowed to disclaim, for his part, several 
sources whence others had deduced the authority. The gentle- 
man from Virginia seemed to think it remarkable that the friends 
of the power should disagree so much among themselves ; and 
to draw a conclusion against its existence from the fact of this 
discrepancy. But he (Mr. C.) could see nothing extraordinary 
in this diversity of views. What was more common than for dif- 
ferent men to contemplate the same subject under various as- 
pects? Such was the nature of the human mind, that enlight- 
ened men, perfectly upright in their intentions, differed in their 
opinions on almost every topic that could be mentioned. It was 
12 



134 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

rather a presumption, in favor of the cause which he was humbly 
maintaining, that the same result should be attained by so many 
various modes of reasoning. But, if contrariety of views might 
be pleaded with any effect against the advocates of the disputed 
power, it equally availed against their opponents. There was, 
for example, not a very exact coincidence in opinion between the 
President of the United States and the gentleman from Virginia. 
The President says, (page 25 of his book,) " The use of the ex- 
isting road, by the stage, mail carrier, or post boy, in passing 
over it, as others do, is all that would be thought of; the jurisdic- 
tion and soil remaining to the state, with a right in the state, or 
those authorized by its legislature^ to change the road at pleas- 
ure.'''' Again, page 27, the President asks, "If the United States 
possessed the power contended for under this grant, might they 
not, in adopting the roads of the individual states, for the car- 
riage of the mail, as has been done, assume jurisdiction over 
them, and preclude a right to interfere with or alter them?" 
They both agree that the general government does not possess 
the power. The gentleman from Virginia admits, if he (Mr. C.) 
understood him correctly, that the designation of a state road as 
a post road, so far withdrew it from the jurisdiction oi the state, 
that it could not be afterwards put down or closed by the state ; 
and in this he claims for the general government more power 
than the President concedes to it. The President, on the con- 
trary, pronounces, that " the absurdity of such a pretension," 
(that is, preventing, by the designation of a post road, the power 
of tlie state from altering or changing it,) "must be apparent to 
all who examine it!" The gentleman thinks that the designation 
of a post road withdraws it entirely, so far as it is used for that 
purpose, from the power of the whole state ; whilst the President 
thinks it absurd to assert that a mere county court may not de- 
feat the execution of a law of the United States ! Tlie President 
thinks that, under the power of appropriating the money o'i the 
United States, Congress may apply it to any object of internal 
improvement, provided it does not assume any territorial jurisdic- 
tion ; and, in this respect, he claims for the general government 
more power than the gentleman from Virginia assigns to it. And 
he (Mr. C.) must own, that he so far coincided with the gentle- 
man from Virginia. If the power can be traced to no more le- 
gitimate source than to that of appropriating the publi;. treasure, 
he yielded the question. 

The truth is, that there is no specific grant, in the constitution, 
of the power of appropriation; nor was any such requisite. It is 
a resulting power. The constitution vests in Congress the pow- 
er of taxation, with but lew limitations, to raise a public revenue. 
It then enumerates the powers of Congress. And it iollows, of 
necessity, that Congress has the right to apply the money, so 
raised, to the execution of the powers so granted. The claumi 
which concludes the enumeration of the granted powers, by au- 
tliorizing the passage of all laws, '' necessary and proper " to ef- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 135 

fectuate them, comprehends the power of appropriation. And 
the framers of the constitution recognize it by the restriction that 
no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in virtue of a pre- 
vious appropriation by kiw. It was to him wonderful how the 
President should have brought his mind to the conclusion, that, 
under the power of appropriation, thus incidentally existing, a 
right could be set up, in its nature almost without limitation, to 
employ the public money. He combats with great success and 
much ability, any deduction of power from the clause relating to 
the general welfare. He shows that the effect of it would be to 
overturn, or render useless and nugatory, the careful enumera- 
tion of our powers ; and that it would convert a cautiously limit- 
ed government into one Avithout hmitation. The same process 
of reasoning by which liis mind was brought to this just conclu- 
sion, one would have thought, should have warned him against his 
claiming, under the power of appropriation, such a vast latitude 
of authority. He reasons strongly against the power, as claimed 
by us, harmless and beneficent and limited, as it must be admit- 
ted to be, and yet he sets up a power boundless in its extent, un- 
restrained to the object of internal improvements, and compre- 
hending the whole scope of human affairs ! For, if the power 
exists, as he asserts it, what human restraint is there upon it ? 
He does, indeed, say, that it cannot be exerted so as to interfere 
with the territorial jurisdiction of the states. But this is a re- 
striction altogether gratuitous, flowing from the bounty of the 
President, and not found in the prescriptions of the constitution. 
If we have a right, indefinitely, to apply the money of the gov- 
ernment to internal improvements, or to any other object, what 
is to prevent the application of it to the purchase of the sover- 
eignty itself, of a state, if a state were mean enough to sell its 
sovereignty — to the purchase of kingdoms, empires, the globe it- 
self? With an almost unlimited power of taxation ; and, after 
the revenue is raised, with a right to apply it under no other 
limitations than those which the President's caution has suggest- 
ed, he could not see what other human power was needed. It 
had been said, by Ctesar or Bonaparte, no doubt thought by both, 
that, with soldiers enough, they could get money enough ; and, 
with money enough, they could command soldiers enough. Ac- 
cording to the President's interpretation of the constitution, one 
of these great levers of public force and power is possessed by 
this government. The President seems to contemplate, as fraught 
with much danger, the power, humbly as it is claimed, to effect 
the internal improvement of the country. And, in his attempt to 
overthrow it, sets up one of infinitely greater magnitude. The 
quantum of power which we claim over the subject of internal 
improvement, is, it is true, of greater amount and force than that 
which results from the President's view of the constitution ; but 
then it is limited to tlie object of internal improvements ; whilst 
the power set up by the President has no such limitation ; and, 



136 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

in effect, as Mr. C. conceived, has no limitation whatever, but 
that of the ability of the people to bear taxation. 

Witix the most profound respect for the President, and after the 
most deliberate consideration of his argument, Mr. C. could 
not agree with him. He could not think that any political power 
accrued to this government, from the mere authority which it 
possessed to appropriate the public revenue. The power to make 
internal improvements drew after it, most certainly, the right to 
appropriate money to consummate the object. But he could not 
conceive that this right of appropriation drew after it the power 
of internal improvements. The appropriation of money was 
consequence not cause. It follows ; it does not precede. Ac- 
cording to t)ie order of nature, we first determine upon the object 
to be accomplished, and then appropriate the money necessary 
to its consummation. According to the order of the constitution, 
the power is defined, and the application, that is, the appropria- 
tion of the money requisite to its effectuation, follows as a neces- 
sary and proper means. The practice of congressional legisla- 
tion was conformable to both. We first inquire what we may 
do, and provide by law for its being done, and we then a})pro- 
priate, by another act of legislation, the money necessary to ac- 
accomplish the specified object. The error of the argument lies 
in its beginning too soon. It supposes the money to be in the 
treasury, and then seeks to disburse it. But how came it there ? 
Congress cannot impose taxes without an object. Their impos- 
ition must be in reference to the whole mass of our powers, to 
the general purposes of government, or with the view to the ful- 
filment of some one of those powers, or to the attainment of some 
one of those purposes. In either case, we consult the constitution, 
and ascertain the extent of the authority which is confided to us. 
We cannot, constitutionally, lay the taxes without regard to the 
extent of our powers ; and then, having acquired the money 
of the public, appropriate it, because we have got it, to any ob- 
ject indefinitely. 

Nor did he claim the power in question, from the consent or 
grant of any particular state or states, through which an object 
of internal improvement might pass. It might, indeed, be pru- 
dent to consult a state througli which such an improvement might 
happen to be carried, from considerations of deference and re- 
spect to its sovereign power ; and from a disposition to maintain 
those relations of perfect amity which are ever desirable, be- 
tween the general and state governments. But the power to 
establisla the improvement, must be found in the constitution, or 
it does not exist. And what is granted by all, it cannot be ne- 
cessary to obtain the consent of some to perform. 

The gentleman from Virginia, in speaking of incidental 
powers, had used a species of argument which he entreated him 
candidly to reconsider. He had said, that the chain of cause and 
effect was without end ; that if we argued from a power express- 
ly granted to all others, which might be convenient or necessary 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 137 / 

to its execution, there were no bounds to the power of this gov- 
ernment; that, for example, under the power "to provide and 
maintain a navy," the right might be assumed to the timber 
necessary to its construction, and the soil on which it grew. 
The gentleman might have added, the acorns from which it 
sprung. What, upon the gentleman's own hypothesis, ought to 
have been his conclusion ? That Congress possessed no power 
to provide and maintain a navy. Such a conclusion would have 
been quite as logical, as that Congress has no power over inter- 
nal improvements, from the possible lengths to which this power 
maj''be pushed. No one ever had, or could, controvert the exist- 
ence of incidental powers. We may apply different rules for 
their extraction, but all must concur in the necessity of their 
actual existence. They result from the imperfections of our na- 
ture, and from the utter impossibility of foreseeing all the turns 
and vicissitudes in human affairs. They cannot be defined. 
Much is attained when the power, the end, is specified and 
guarded. Keeping that constantly in view, the means necessary 
to its attainment must be left to the sound and responsible discre- 
tion of the public functionary. Intrench him as you please, em- 
ploy what language you may, in the constitutional instrument, 
"necessary and proper," "indispensably necessary," or any 
other, and the question is still left open, does the proposed mea- 
sure fall within the scope of the incidental power, circmuscribed 
as it may be ? Your safety against abuse must rest in his in- 
terest, his integritj^, his responsibility to the exercise of the 
elective franchise ; finally, in the ultimate right, when all other 
redress fails, of an appeal to the remedy, to be used only in ex- 
treme cases, of forcible resistance against intolerable oppression. 

Doubtless, by an extravagant and abusive enlargement of in- 
cidental powers, the state governments may be reduced within 
too narrows- limits. Take any power, however incontestibly 
granted to the general government, and employ that kind of pro- 
cess of reasoning in which the gentleman from Virginia is so 
skilful, by tracing it to its remotest effects, you may make it ab- 
sorb the powers of the state governments. Pursue the opposite 
course ; take any incontestible power belonging to the state 
governments, and follow it out into all its possible ramifications, 
and you make it thwart and defeat the great operations of the 
government of the whole. This is the consequence of our sys- 
tems. Their harmony is to be preserved only by forbearance, 
liberality, practical good sense, and mutual concession. Bring 
these dispositions' into the administrations of our various institu- 
tions, and all the dreaded conflicts of authorities will be found to 
be perfectly imaginary. 

He said, that he disclaimed, for himself, several sources to 

which others had ascended, to arrive at the power in question. 

In making this disclaimer, he meant to cast no imjiutation on 

them. He was glad to meet them by whatever road they tra- 

12* 



136 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

veiled, at the point of a constitutional conclusion. Nor did their 

Eositions weaken his ; on the contrary, if correctly taken, and 
is also were justified by fair interpretation, they added strength 
to his. But he felt it his duty, frankly and sincerely, to state his 
own views of the constitution. In coming to the ground on which 
(said Mr. C.) I make my stand to maintain the power, and 
where I am ready to meet its antagonist, I am happy, in the out- 
set, to state my hearty concurrence with the gentleman from 
Virginia, in the old 1798 republican principles — now become fed- 
eral also — by which the constitution is to be interpreted. I 
agree with him, that this is a limited government ; that it has no 
powers but the granted powers ; and that the granted powers 
are those which are expressly enumerated, or such as, being im- 
plied, are necessary and proper to effectuate the enumerated 
powers. And, if I do not show the power over federative, na- 
tional, internal improvements, to be fairly deducible, after the 
strictest application of these principles, I entreat the committee 
unanimously to reject the bill. The gentleman from Virginia 
has rightly anticipated, that, in regard to roads, I claim the 
power under the grant to establish post offices nnd post roads. 
The whole question, on this part of the subject, turns upon the 
true meaning of this clause, and that again upon tlie genuine 
signification of the word ^'■establish.'''' According to my under- 
standing of it, the meaning of it is, to fix, to make firm, to build. 
According to that of the gentleman Irom Virginia, it is to desig- 
nate, to adopt. Grammatical criticism was to me always un- 
pleasant, and I do not profess to be any proficient in it. But I will 
confidently appeal, in support of my definition, to any vocabulary 
wiiatever, of respectable authority, and to the common use of the 
word. That it could not mean only adoption Avas to me evident, 
for adoption presupposes establishment, which is precedent in its 
very nature. That which does not exist, which is not establish- 
ed, cannot be adopted. There was, then, an essential diflerence 
between the gentleman from Virginia and me. I consider the 
power as original and creative ; he as derivative, adoptive. But 
I will show, out of the mouth of the President himself, who agrees 
vvitii the gentleman from Virginia, as to the sense of this word, 
that Vi'hat I contend for is its genuine meaning. The President, 
in almost the first lines of his message to this house, of the fourth 
of May, 1822, returning the Cumberland bill with his veto, says, 
"a power to establish turnpikes, with gates and tolls, &c., implies 
a power to adopt and execute a complete system of internal im- 
provement." What is the sense in which the word " establish" 
is here used ? Is it not creative ? Did the President mean to 
adopt or designate some pre-existing turnpikes, with gates, &c., 
or, lor the first time to set thein up, under the authority of Con- 
gress? Again, the President says, "if it exist as to one road, 
[that is the power to lay duties of transit, and to take the land on 
a valuation,] it exists as to any other, and to as many rouda as 
Congress may think proper to ' establish.'' " In what sense does 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 139 

he here employ the word ? The truth is, that the President 
could employ no better than the constitutional word, and he is 
obliged to use it in the precise sense for which I contend. But 
I go to a higher authority than that of the chief magistrate — to 
that of the constitution itself. In expounding that instrument, 
we must look at all its parts ; and, if we find a word, the mean- 
ing of which it is desirable to obtain, we may safely rest upon 
the use which has been made of the same word in other parts of 
the instrument. The word "establish" is one of frequent re- 
currence in the constitution ; and I venture to say that it will be 
found uniformly to express the same idea. In the clause enume- 
rating our powers, "Congress has power to establish a uniform 
rule of naturalization," &c. In the preamble, " we, the people 
of the "United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 
establish iMsiice, &c., do ordain and establish this constitution," 
&c. What pre-existing code of justice was adopted? Did not 
the people of the United States, in this high sovereign act, con- 
template the construction of a code adapted to their federal con- 
dition ? The sense of the word, as contended for, was self-evi- 
dent Avhen applied to the constitution. 

But let us look at the nature, object and purposes of the pow- 
er. The trust confided to Congress was one of the most bene- 
ficial character. It was the diffusion of information among all 
the parts of this republic. It was the transmission and circula- 
tion of intelligence; it Avas to communicate knowledge of the 
laws and acts of government, and to promote the great business 
of society in all its relations. This Avas a great trust, ca{)able 
of being executed in a highly salutary manner. It could be 
executed only by Congress, and it should be as well performed 
as it could be, considering the wants and exigencies of govern- 
ment. And here I beg leave to advert to the principle which I . 
some time ago laid down, that the powers granted to this gov- 
ernment are to be carried into execution by its own inherent 
tbrce and energy, without necessary dependence upon the State 
governments. If my construction secures this object; and ii' 
that of my opponents places the execution of this trust at the 
pleasure and mercy of the State governments, Ave must reject 
theirs, and assume mine. But the construction of the President 
does make it so dependent. He contends that we can only use 
as post roads those Avhich the States shall have previously es- 
tablished; that they are at liberty to alter, to cliange, and of 
course to shut them up at pleasure. It rei-ults from this A'icAv 
of the President, that any of the great mail routes now existing, 
that for example from south to north, may be closed at pleasure 
or by caprice, by any one of the States, or its authorities, through 
Avhich it passes, by that of Delaware, or any other. Is it possi- 
ble that that construction of the constitution can be correct, 
which allows a laAV of the United S rates, enacted for the good 
of the Avhole, to be obstructed or def.-'ated in its operation by any 
one of twenty-four sovereignties? The gentleman from Virgi- 



140 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

nia, it is true, denies the right of a State to close a road which 
has been designated as a post road. But suppose the State, no 
longer having occasion to use it for its own separate and pecu- 
liar purposes, withdraws all care and attention from its preser- 
vation. Can the State be compelled to repair it? No! the 
gentleman from Virginia must say, and I will say — may not the 
general government repair this road which is abandoned by the 
State power? May it not repair it in the most efficacious man- 
ner? And may it not protect and defend that which it has thus 
repaired, and which there is no longer an interest or inclination 
in the State to protect and defend? Or does the gentleman 
mean to contend that a road may exist in the statute book, which 
a State will not, and the general government cannot, repair and 
improve? And what sort of an account should we render, to 
tlic people of the United States, of the execution of the high 
trust confided, for their benefit to us, if we were to tell them that 
we had failed to execute it, because a State would not make a 
I'oad for us? 

The roads, and other internal improvements of States, are 
made in reference to their individual interests. It is the eye only 
of the whole, and the power of the whole, that can look to the 
interests of all. In the infancy of the government, and in the 
actual state of the public treasury, it may be the only alternative 
'left us to use those roads, which are made for Slate purposes, to 
promote the national object, ill as they may be adapted to it. 
It may never be necessary to make more than a few great na- 
tional arteries of communication, leaving to the States the lateral 
and minor ramifications. Even these should only be executed, 
vvitho\]t pressure upon the resources of the country, and accord- 
ing to the convenience and ability of government. But, surely, 
in the performance of a great national duty imposed upon this 
government, which has for its object the distribution of intelli- 
gcncej civil, commercial, literary and social, we ought to perform 
the substance of the trust, and not content ourselves with a mere 
inefficient paper execution of it. If I am right in these views, 
the power to establish post roads being in its nature original and 
creative, and the government having adopted the roads made by 
State means ouly from its inability to exert the whole extent of 
its authority, the controverted power is expressly granted to 
Congress, and there is an end of the question. 

It ought to be borne in mind, that this power over roads was 
not contained in the articles of confederation, which limited Con- 
gress to the establi;^.]iment of post-offices ; and that the general 
character of the present constitution, as contrasted with those 
articles, is that of an enlargement of power. But, if the con- 
struction of my opponents be correct, we are left precisely 
where the articles of confederation left us, notwithstanding the 
additional v/ords contained in the present constitution. What, 
100, will the gentlemen do with the first member of the clause to 
establish post offices? Must Congress adopt, designate, some 



/ 



*. 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 141 

pre-existing office, established by state authorrty? But there is 
none such. May it not then fix, build, create, establish offices 
of its own? 

The gentleman from Virginia sought to alarm us by the awful 
emphasis with which he set before us the total extent of post 
roads in the Union. Eighty thousand miles of post roads! ex' 
claimed the gentleman ; and you will assert for the general gov- 
ernment jurisdiction, and erect turnpikes, on such an immense 
distance? Not to-day, nor to-morrow; but this government is to 
last, I trust, forever ; wc may at least hope it will endure until 
the wave of population, cultivation and intelligence shall have 
washed the Rocky mountains, and mingled with the Pacific. 
And may we not also hope that the day will arrive when the im- 
provements and the comforts of social life shall spread over the 
wide surface of this vast continent? All this is not to be sud- 
denly done. Society must not be burthened or oppressed. — 
Things must be gradual and progressive. The same species 
of formidable array which tlie gentleman makes, might be ex- 
hibited in reference to the construction of a navy, or any other 
of the great purposes of government. We might be told of the 
fleets and vessels of great maritime powers, which whiten the 
ocean ; and triumphantly asked if we should vainly attempt to 
cope with or rival that tremendous power? And we should 
shrink from the effort, if we were to listen to his counsels, in 
hopeless despair. Yes, sir, it is a subject of peculiar delight to 
me to look forward to the proud and happy period, distant as it 
may be, when circulation and association between the Atlantic 
and the Pacific and the Mexican gulf, shall be as free and perfect 
as they are at this moment in England, or in any other the most 
liighly improved country on the globe. In the mean time, with- 
out bearing heavily upon any of our important interests, let us 
apply ourselves to the accomplishment of what is most practica- 
ble, and immediately necessary. 

But what most staggers my honorable friend, is the jurisdic- 
tion over the sites of roads and other internal improvements, 
which he supposes Congress might assume ; and he considers 
the exercise of such a jurisdiction as furnishing the just occasion 
for serious alarm. Let us analyze the subject. Prior to the 
erection of a road under the authority of the general govern- 
ment, there existed, in the state through which it passes, no ac- 
tual exercise of jurisdiction over the ground which it traverses 
as a road. There was only the possibility of the exercise of 
such a jurisdiction, when the state should, if ever, erect such a 
road. But the road is made by the authority of Congress, and 
out of the fact of its erection arises a necessity for its preserva- 
tion and protection. The road is some thirty or fifty or sixty feet 
in width, and with that narrow limit passes through a part of the 
territory of the state. The capital expended in the making of 
the road incorporates itself with and becomes a part of the per- 
manent and immovable property of the state. The jurisdiction 



142 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

which is claimed for the general government, is that only which 
relates to the necessary defence, protection, and preservation, of 
tJie road. It is of a character altogether conservative. What- 
ever does not relate to the existence and protection of the road 
remains with the state. Murders, trespasses, contracts, all the 
occurrences and transactions of society upon the road, not affect- 
ing its actual existence, will fall within the jurisdiction of the 
civil or criminal tribunals of the state, as if the road had never 
been brought into existence. How much remains to the state ! 
How little is claimed for the general government ! Is it possible 
tliat a jurisdiction so limited, so harmless, so unambitious, can be 
regarded as seriously alarming to the sovereignty of the states ! 
Congress now asserts and exercises, without contestation, a pow- 
er to protect the mail in its transit, by the sanction of all suitable 
penalties. The man who violates it is punished with death, or 
otherwise, according to the circumstances of the case. This 
power is exerted as incident to that of establishing post offices 
and post roads. Is the protection of the thing in transitu a pow- 
er more clearly deducible from the grant, than that of facilitating, 
by means of a practicable road, its actual transportation 1 Mails 
certainly imply roads, roads imply their own preservation, their 
preservation implies the power to preserve them, and the consti- 
tution tells us, in express terms, that we shall establish the one 
and the other. 

In respect to cutting canals, I admit the question is not quite 
so clear as in regard to roads. With respect to these, as I have 
endeavored to show, the power is expressly granted. In regard 
to canals, it appears to me to be fairly comprehended in, or de- 
ducible from, certain granted powers. Congress has power to 
regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several 
states. Precisely the same measure of power which is granted in 
the one case is conferred in the other. And the uniform practi- 
cal exposition of the constitution, as to the regulation of foreign 
commerce, is equally applicable to that among the several states. 
Suppose, instead of directing the legislation of this government 
constantly, as heretofore, to the object of foreign commerce, to 
the utter neglect of the interior commerce among the several 
states, the fact had been reversed, and now, for the first time, we 
were about to legislate for our foreign trade : Should Ave not, in 
that case, hear all the constitutional objections made to the erec- 
tion of buoys, beacons, light-houses, the surveys of coasts, and 
tlie other numerous facilities accorded to the foreign trade, which 
we now hear to the making of roads and canals? Two years 
ago, a sea-wall, or, in other words, a marine canal, was author- 
ized by an act of Congress, in New-Hampshire ; and I doubt not 
tliat many of those voted for it who have now constitutional scru- 
ples on this bill. Yes, any thing, every thing, may be done for 
foreign commerce; any thing, every thing, on the margin of the 
ocean ; but nothing for domestic trade ; nothing for the great in- 
terior of the country ! Yet, the equity and the beneficence of 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 143 

the constitution equally comprehends both. The gentleman 
does, indeed, maintain that there is a difference as to the charac- 
ter of the facilities in the two cases. But I put it to his own can- 
dor, whether the only difference is not that which springs from 
the nature of the two elements on which the two species of com- 
merce are conducted — the difference between land and water. 
The principle is the same, whether you promote commerce by 
opening for it an artificial channel where now there is none, or 
by increasing the ease or safety with which it may be conducted 
through a natural channel which the bounty of Providence has 
bestowed. In the one case, your object is to facilitate arrival and 
departure from the ocean to the land. In the other, it is to ac- 
complish the same object from the land to the ocean. Physical 
obstacles may be greater in the one case than in the other, but 
the moral or constitutional power equally includes both. The 
gentleman from Virginia had, to be sure, contended that the 
power to make these commercial facilities was to be found in 
another clause of the constitution — that which enables Congress 
to obtain cessions of territory for specific objects, and grants to 
it an exclusive jurisdiction. These cessions may be obtained for 
the '' erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, or other 
neediul buildings." It is apparent that it relates altogether to 
military or naval affairs, and not to the regulation of commerce. 
How was the marine canal covered by this clause '? Is it to be 
considered as a "needful building?" The object of this power 
is perfectly obvious. The convention saw that, in military or 
naval posts, such as are indicated, it was indispensably necessa- 
ry, for their proper government, to vest in Congress the power 
of exclusive legislation. If we claimed over objects of internal 
improvement an exclusive jurisdiction, the gentleman might 
urge, with much force, the clause in question. But the claim of 
concurrent jurisdiction only is asserted. The gentleman pro- 
fesses himself unable to comprehend how concurrent jurisdiction 
can be exercised by two different governments at the same time 
over the same persons and things. But, is not this the lact with 
respect to the state and federal governments'? Does not every 
person, and every thing, within our limits, sustain a two-fold re- 
lation to the state and to the federal authority ? The power of 
tiixation as exerted by both governments, that over the militia, 
besides many others, is concurrent. No doubt embarrassing ca- 
ses may be conceived and stated by gentlemen of acute and in- 
genious minds. One was put to me yesterday. Two canals are 
desired, one by the federal, and the other by a state government ; 
and there is not a supply of water but for the feeder of one ca- 
nal — which is to take it? The constitution, which ordains the 
supremacy of the laws of the United States, answers the ques- 
tion. The good of the whole is paramount to the good of a part. 
The same difficulty might possibly arise in the exercise of the 
incontestible power of taxation. We know that the imposition 
of taxes has its limits. There is a maximum which cannot be 



144 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

transcended. Suppose the citizen to be taxed by the general 
government to the utmost extent of his abiUty, or a thing as much 
as it can possibly bear, and the state imposes a tax at the same 
time, which authority is to take it? Extreme cases of this son 
may serve to amuse and to puzzle ; but they will hardly ever 
arise in practice. And we may safely confide in the moderation, 
good sense, and mutual good dispositions, of the two govern- 
ments, to guard against the imagined conflicts. 

It is said by the President, that the power to regulate com- 
merce merely authorizes the laying of imposts and duties. But 
Congress has no power to lay imposts and duties on the trade 
among the several states. The grant must mean, therefore, 
something else. What is it ? The power to regulate commerce 
among the several states, if it has any meaning, implies authority 
to foster it, to promote it, to bestow on itfacihties similar to those 
which have been conceded to our foreign trade. It cannot mean 
only an empty authority to adopt regulations, witliout the capa- 
city to give practical effect to them. All the powers of this gov- 
ernment should be interpreted in reference to its first, its best, its 
greatest object, the union of these states. And is not that union 
best invigorated by an intimate, social, and commercial connexion 
between all the parts of the confederacy 1 Can that be accom- 
plished, that is, can the federative objects of this government be 
attained, but by the application of federative resources ? 

Of all the powers bestowed on this government, Mr. Clay 
tliought none were more clearly vested, than that to regulate 
die distribution of the intelligence, private and official, of the 
country ; to regulate the distribution of its commerce ; and to 
regulate the distribution of the physical force of the Union. In 
tlie execution of the high and solemn trust which these beneficial 
powers imply, we must look to the great ends which the framers 
of our admirable constitution had in view. We must reject, as 
wholly incompatible with their enlightened and beneficent in- 
tentions, that construction of these powers which would resusci- 
tate all the debility and inefficiency of the ancient confederacy. 
In the vicissitudes of human atlairs, who can foresee all the pos- 
sible eases, in whicli it may be necessary to apply the public 
force, within or witliout tlie Union? This government is charg- 
ed with the use of it, to repel invasions, to suppress insurrections, 
to enforce the iavv's of the Union ; in short, for all the unknown 
and undefinable purposes of war, foreign or intestine, wherever 
and however it may rage. During its existence, may not gov- 
ernment, for its effectual prosecution, order a road to be made, or 
X canal to be cut, to relieve, for example, an exposed point of 
the Union? If, when the emergency comes, there is a power to 
provide for it, that power must exist in the constitution, and not 
in the emergency. A wise, precautionary, and parental policy, 
anticipating danger, will before hand provide for the hour of 
need. Roads and canals are in the nature of fortifications, since, 
if n^tthe deposites of mihtary resources, they enable you to bring 



/ 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 145 

into rapid action, the military resources of the country, whatever 
they maybe. Tlieyare better than any iortifications, because they 
serve the double purposes of peace and of war. Tliey dispense in 
a great degree, with fortifications, since they have all the effect of 
that concentration, at whicli fortifications aim. I appeal from the 
precepts of the President to the practice of the President. Wiiile 
he denies to Congress the power in question, he does not scruple, 
upon his sole authority, as numerous instances in the statute book 
will testify, to order, at pleasure, the opening of roads by the mili- 
tary, and then come here to ask us to pay for them. Nay, more, sir; 
a subordinate but highly respectable officer of the executive gov- 
ernment I believe would not hesitate to provide a boat or cause a 
bridge to be erected over an inconsiderable stream, to ensure the 
regular transportation of the mail. And it happens to be within my 
personal knowledge, that the head of the post-office department, as 
a prompt and vigilant officer should do, had recently despatched 
an agent to ascertain the causes of the late frequent vexatious fail- 
ures of the great northern mail, and to inquire if a provision of a 
boat or bridge over certain small streams in Maryland, which 
have produced them, would not prevent their recurrence. 

I was much surprised at one argument of the honorable gen- 
tleman. He told the house, that the constitution had carefully 
guarded against inequality, among the several states, in the pub- 
lic burthens, by certain restrictions upon the power of taxation ; 
that the effect of the adoption of a system of^ internal improve- 
ments would be to draw the resources from one part of the Union, 
and to expend them in the improvements of another ; and that 
the spirit, at least, of the constitutional equality, would be thus 
violated. From the nature of things, the constitution could not 
specify the theatre of the expenditure of the public treasure. 
That expenditure, guided by and looking to the public good, 
must be made, necessarily,whereitwillmostsubserve the interests 
of the whole Union. The argument is, that the locale of the 
collection of the public contributions, and the locale of their dis- 
bursement, should be the same. Now, sir, let us carry this ar- 
gument out; and no man is more capable than the ingenious 
gentleman from Virginia, of tracing an argument to its utmost 
consequences. The locale of the collection of the public revenue 
is the pocket of the citizen ; and, to abstain from the violation 
of the principle of equality adverted to by the gentleman, we 
should restore back into each man's pocket precisely what was 
taken from it. If the principle contended for be true, we are habitu- 
ally violating it. We raise about twent};^ millions of dollars, a 
very large revenue, considering the actual distresses of the 
country. And, sir, notwithstanding all the puffing, flourishing 
statements of its prosperity, emanating from printers who are 
fed upon the pap of the public treasury, the whole country is in a 
condition of very great distress. Where is this vast revenue ex- 
pended ? Boston, New-York, the great capitals of the north, are 
13 



146 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

the theatres of its disbursement. There the interest upon the 
public debt is paid. There the expenditure in the building-, 
equipment, and repair of the national vessels takes place. There 
all the great expenditures of the government necessarily concen- 
trate. This is no cause of just complaint. It is inevitable, re- 
sulting from the accumulation of capital, the state of the arts, 
and other circumstances belonging to our great cities. But, 
sir, if there be a section of this Union having more right than 
any other to complain of this transfer of the circulating medium 
from one quarter of the Union to another, the west, the poor 
west — [Here Mr. Barbour explained. He had meant that the 
constitution limited Congress as to the proportions of revenue to 
be drawn from the several states ; but the principle of this 
provision would be vacated by internal improvements of im- 
mense expense, and yet of a local character. Our public ships, 
to be sure, are built at the seaports, but they do not remain there. 
Their home is the mountain wave; but internal improvements are 
essentially local ; they touch the soil of the states, and their bene- 
fits, at least the largest part of them, are confined to the states 
where they exist.] The explanation of the gentleman has not 
materially varied the argument. He says that the home of our 
ships is the mountain wave. Sir, if the ships go to sea, the 
money with which they were built, or refitted, remains on shore, 
and the cities where the equipment takes place derive the bene- 
fit of the expenditure. It requires no stretch of the imagination 
to conceive the profitable industry — the axes, the hammers, the 
saws — the mechanic arts, which are put in motion by this expendi- 
ture. And all these, and other collateral advantages, are enjoyed 
by the seaports. The navy is built for the interest of the whole. 
Internal improvements of that general, federative character, for 
which we contend would also be for the interest of the whole. 
And, I should think their abiding with us, and not going abroad 
on the vast deep, was rather cause of recommendation than ob- 
jection. 

But, Mr. Chairman, if there be any part of this Union more 
likely than all others to be benefitted by the adoption of the 
gentleman's principle, regulating the public expenditure, it is the 
west. There is a perpetual drain, from that embarrassed and 
highly distressed portion of our country, of its circulating medi- 
um to the east. There, but few and inconsiderable expenditures 
of the public money take place. There we have none of those 

Sublic works, no magnificent edifices, forts, armories, arsenals, 
ockyards, &c., which, more or less, are to be found in every 
Atlantic State. In at least seven States beyond the Alleghany, 
not one solitary public work of this government is to be found. 
If, by one of those awful and terrible dispensations of Providence 
which sometimes occur, this government should be unhappily 
annihilated, every where on the sea-board traces of its formei 
existence would be found; whilst we should not have, in th- 
west, a single monument remaining, on which to pour out ou 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 147 

affections and our regrets. Yet, sir, we do not compkiin. No 
portion of your population is more loyal to the Union, than the 
hardy freemen of the west. Nothing can weaken or eradicate 
tJieir ardent desire for its lasting preservation. None are more 
prompt to vindicate the interests and rights of the nation from 
all foreign aggression. Need I remind you of the glorious 
scenes in Avhich they participated during the late war — a war in 
which they had no peculiar or direct interest, waged for no com- 
merce, no seamen of theirs. But it was enough for them that 
it was a war demanded b)' the character and the honor of the 
nation. They did not stop to calculate its cost of blood, or of 
treasure. They flew to arms ; they rushed down the valley 
of the Mississippi, with all the impetuosity of that noble river. 
They sought the enemy. They found him at the beach. They 
fought; they bled; they covered themselves and their country 
with immortal glory. They enthusiastically shared in all the 
transports occasioned by our victories, whether won on the ocean 
or on the land. They telt, with the keenest distress, whatever 
disaster befel us. No, sir, I repeat it, neglect, injury itself, can- 
not alienate the affections of the west from this government. 
They cling to it, as to their best, their greatest, their last hope. 
You may impoverish them, reduce them to ruin, by the mistakes 
of your policy, and you cannot drive them from you. They do 
not complain of the expenditure of the public money, where the 
public exigencies require its disbursement. But, I put it to your 
candor, if you ought not, by a generous and national policy, to 
mitigate, it not prevent, the evils resulting from the perpetual 
transfer of the circulating medium from the west to the east. 
One million and a half of dollars annually, is transferred for the 
public lands alone; and almost every dollar goes, like him who 
goes to death — to a bourne from which no traveller returns. In 

ten years it will amount to fifteen millions; in twenty to but 

I will not pursue the appalling results of arithmetic. Gentlemen 
who believe that these vast sums are supplied by emigrants from 
the east, labor u-nder great error. There was a time when the 
tide of emigration from the east bore along with it the means 
to effect the purchase of the public domain. But that tide has, 
in a great measure, now stopt. And, as population advances 
farther and farther west, it will entirely cease. The greatest 
migrating States in the Union, at this time, are Kentucky first, 
Ohio next, and Tennessee. The emigrants from those States 
carry with them, to the States and Territories lying beyond 
tliem, the circulating medium, which, being invested in the pur- 
chase of the public land, is transmitted to the points where the 
wants of government require it. If this debilitating and ex- 
haiisting process were inevitable, it must be borne with manly 
fortitude. But we think that a fit exertion of the powers of this 
government would mitigate the evil. We believe that the gov- 
ernment incontestibly possesses the constitutional power to exe- 
cute such internal improvements as are called for by the good 



148 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

of the whole. And we appeal to your equity, to your parental 
regard, to your enlightened policy, to perform the high and bene- 
ficial trust thus sacredly reposed, I am sensible of the deliceujy 
of the topic to which I have reluctantly adverted, in consequence 
of the observations of the honorable gentleman from Virginia. 
And I hope there will be no misconception of my motives in 
dwelling upon it. A wise and considerate government should 
anticipate and prevent, rather than wait for the operation of 
causes of discontent. 

Let me ask, Mr. Chairman, what has this government done 
on the great subject of internal improvements, after so many 
years of its existence, and with such an inviting field before it? 
You have made the Cumberland road, only. Gentlemen appear 
to have considered that a western road. They ought to recol- 
lect that not one stone has yet been broken, not one spade of 
earth has been yet removed in any western State. The road 
begins in Maryland, and it terminates at Wheeling. It passes 
through the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. 
All the direct benefit of the expenditure of the public money on 
that road, has accrued to those three States ; not one cent in any 
western State. And yet we have had to beg, entreat, suppli- 
cate you, session after session, to grant the necessary appropria- 
tions to complete the road. I have myself toiled until my powers 
have been exhausted and prostrated, to prevail on you to make 
tlie grant. We were actuated to make these exertions for the 
sake of the collateral benefit only to the west ; that we might 
have a way by which we should be able to continue and main- 
tain an aftectionate intercourse with our friends and brethren — 
that we might have a way to reach the capitol of our country, 
and to bring our councils, humble as they may be, to consult 
and mingle with yours in the advancement of the national pros- 
perity. Yes, sir, the Cumberland road has only reached the 
margin of a western State; and, from some indications which 
have been given during this session, I should apprehend it would 
there pause tbrever, if my confidence in you were not unbounded; 
if I had not before witnessed that appeals were never unsuc- 
cessful to your justice, to your magnanimity, to your fraternal 
afl'ection. 

But, sir, the bill on your table is no western bill. It is em- 
phatically a national bill, comprehending all, looking to the in- 
terests of the whole. The people of the west never thought of, 
never desired, never asked, for a system exclusively for their 
benefit. The system contemplated by this bill looks to great na- 
tional objects, and proposes the ultimate application to theii 
accomplishment of the only means by which they can be effected; 
the means of the nation — means which, if they be withheld from 
such objects, the Union, I do most solemnly believe, of these 
now happy and promising States, niay, at some distant (I trust 
a far, far distant) day may be endangered and shalcen at its 
centre. 



/ 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 149 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

Speech on the Greek Revolution, delivered in the Home of 
Representatives, 20th January, 1824. 

Mr. Clay rose, and commenced his speech by distinctly stating 
the original resolution, as moved by Mr. Webster, and the 
amendment proposed to it by Mr. Poinsett. The resolution pro- 
posed a provision of the means to defray the expense of deputing 
a commissioner or agent to Greece, wheJiever the President, who 
knows, or ought to know, the disposition of all the European 
powers, Turkish or Christian, shall deem it proper. The amend- 
ment goes to withhold any appropriation to that object, but to 
make a public declaration of our sympathy with the Greeks, 
and of our good wishes lor the success ot their cause. And 
how has this simple, unpretending, unambitious, this harmless 
proposition, been treated in debate? It has been argued as if it 
offered aid to the Greeks; as if it proposed the recognition 
of the independence of their government; as a measure of un- 
justifiable interference in the internal aft'airs of a foreign state, 
and finally, as war, And they who thus argue the question, 
whilst tliey absolutely surrender themselves to the illusions of 
their own fervid imaginations, and depict, in glowing terms, the 
monstrous and alarming consequences which are to spring out 
of a proposition so simple, impute to us, who are its humble ad- 
vocates, quixotism, quixotism ! Whilst they are taking the most 
extravagant and lioundless range, and arguing any thing and 
every thing but the question before the committee, they accuse 
us of enthusiasm, of giving the reins to excited feeling, of being 
transported by our imaginations. No, sir, the resolution is no 
proposition for aid, nor for recognition, nor for interference, nor 
for war. 

I know that there are some who object to the resolution on 
account of the source from which it has sprung — who except to 
its mover, as if its value or importance were to be estimated by 
personal considerations. I have long had the pleasure of know- 
ing the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, and sometimes 
that of acting with him ; and I have much satisfaction in ex- 
pressing my high admiration of his great talents. But I would 
appeal to my republican friends, those faithful sentinels of civil 
liberty with whom I have ever acted, shall we reject a proposi- 
tion, consonant to our principles, favoring the good and great 
cause, on account of the political character of its mover? Shall 
we not rather look to the intrinsic merits of the measure, and 
seek every fit occasion to strengthen and perpetuate liberal prin- 
ciples and noble sentiments? If it were possible for republicans 
to cease to be the champions of human freedom, and if federal- 
13* 



150 ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

ists become its only supporters, I would cease to be a republi- 
can; I would become a federalist. The preservation of the 
public confidence can only be secured, or merited, by a faithful 
adherence to the principles by which it has been acquired. 

Mr. Chairman, is it it not extraordinary that for these two suc- 
cessive years the President of the United States should have 
been freely indulged, not only without censure, but with miiver- 
sal applause, to express the feelings which both the resolution 
and the amendment proclaim, and yet if this house venture to 
imite with him, the most awful consequences are to ensue ? From 
Maine to Georgia, from the Atlantic ocean to the gulf of Mexico, 
the sentiment of approbation has blazed with the rapidity of elec- 
tricity. Every where the interest in the Grecian cause is felt 
with the deepest intensity, expressed in every ibrm, and increas- 
es with every new day and passing hour. And are the represen- 
tatives of the people alone to be insulated from the common mo- 
ral atmosphere of the whole land? Shall we shut ourselves up 
in apathy, and separate ourselves from our country? from our 
constituents'? from our chief magistrate ? frc.n our principles? 
' The measure has been most unreasonably magnified. Gen- 
tlemen speak of the watchful jealousy of the Turk, and seem to 
Uiink that the slightest movement of "this body will be matter of 
serious speculation at Constantinople. I beheve that neither the 
Sublime Porte, nor the European allies, attach any such exag- 
gerated importance to the acts and deliberations of this body. 
The Turk will, in all probability, never hear of the names of the 
gentlemen who either espouse or oppose the resolution. It cer- 
tainly is not without a value ; but that value is altogether moral ; 
it throws our little tribute into the vast stream of public opinion, 
which sooner or later must regulate the physical action upon the 
great interests of the civilized world. But, rely upon it, the Ot- 
toman is not about to declare war against us because this unof- 
lending proposition has been oiYered by my honorable friend from 
Massachusetts, whose name, however distinguished and eminent 
lie may be in our own country, has probably never reached the 
cars ot' the Sublime Porte. The allied powers are not going to 
be thrown into a state of consternation, because we appropriate 
bome two or three thousand dollars to send an agent to Greece. 
The question has been argued as it' the Greeks would be ex- 
posed to still more shocking enormities by its passage; as if the 
Turkish scimitar would be rendered still keener, and dyed deep- 
er and yet deeper in Christian blood. Sir, if such is to be the 
effect of the declaration of our sympathy, the evil has been al- 
ready produced. That declaration has been already publicly and 
fcolernnly made by the Chief Magistrate of the United States, in 
two distinct messages. It is this document which commands at 
home and abroad the most fixed and universal attention ; which 
is translated into all the foreign journals ; read by sovereigns and 
their ministers ; and, possibly, in the divan itselt^ But our reso- 
lutions are domestic, for home consumption, and rarely, if ever. 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 151 

meet imperial or royal eyes. The President, in his messages, 
after a most touching representation of the feelings excited by 
the Greek insurrection, tells you that the dominion of the Turk 
is gone forever ; and that the most sanguine hope is entertained 
that Greece will achieve her independence. Well, sir, if this be 
the fact, if the allied powers themselves may, possibly, before we 
again assemble in this hall, acknowledge that independence, is it 
not fit and becoming in this house to make provision that our 
President shall be among the foremost, or at least not among the 
last, in that acknowledgment ? So far from this resolution being 
likely to whet the vengeance of the Turk against his Grecian 
victims, I believe its tendency will be directly the reverse. Sir, 
with all his unlimited power, and in all the elevation of his des- 
potic throne, he is at last but man, made as we are, of flesh, of 
muscle, of bone and sinew. He is susceptible of pain, and can 
feel, and has felt the uncalculating valor of American freemen in 
some of his dominions. And when he is made to understand 
that the executive of this government is sustained by the repre- 
sentatives of the people ; that our entire political fabric, base, col- 
umn, and entablature, rulers and people, with heart, soul, mind, 
and strength, are all on the side of the gallant people whom he 
would crush, he will be more likely to restrain than to increase 
his atrocities upon suffering and bleeding Greece. 

The gentleman i>ora New-Hampshire, (Mr. Bartlett,) has 
made, on this occasion, a very ingenious, sensible, and ironical 
speech — an admirable debut tor a new member, and such as I 
hope we shall often have repeated on this floor. But, permit me 
to advise my young friend to remember the maxim, '• that svil- 
ficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" and when the resolu- 
tion,* on another subject, which I had the honor to submit, shall 
come up to be discussed, I hope he will not content himself with 
saying, as he has now done, that it is a very extraordinary one ; 
but that he will then favor the house Avith an argumentative 
speech, proving that it is our duty quietly to see laid prostrate 
every fortress of human hope, and to beliold, with indifference, 
the last outwork of liberty taken and destroyed. 

It has been said, tliat the proposed measure will be a depart- 
ure from our uniform policy with respect to foreign nations ; that 
it will provoke the wrath of the holy affiance ; and that it will, in 
eflfect, be a repetition of their own offence, by an unjustifiable in- 
terposition in the domestic concerns of other powers. No, sir, 
not even if it authorized, which it does not, an immediate recog- 
nition of Grecian independence. What has been the settled and 
steady policy and practice of this government, from the days of 
Washington, to the present moment ? In the case of France, the 
father of his country and his successors received Genet, Fouchet 
and all the French ministers who followed them, whether sent 

♦ TJieresoliilion, offered by Mr. Clay, declaring that the United Statpg would not 
see with indifference any interference of Uie holy alliance in behalf of Spain against 
tite new American republics. 



152 ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

from king, convention, anarchy, emperor, or king again. The- 
rule we have ever Ibllowed has been this : to look at the state of 
the fact, and to recognize that government, be it what it might, 
which was in actual possession of sovereign power. When one 
government is overthrown, and another is established on its ruins, 
without embarrassing ourselves with any of the principles in- 
volved in the contest, we have ever acknowledged the new and 
actual government as soon as it had undisputed existence. Our 
simple inquiry has been, is there a government de facto 7 We 
have had a recent and memorable example. When the allied 
ministers retired from Madrid, and refused to accompany Ferdi- 
nand to Cadiz, ours remained, and we sent out a new minister, 
who sought at that port to present himself to the constitutional 
king. Why? Because it was the government of Spain, in fact. 
Did the allies declare war against us for the exercise of this in- 
contestible attribute of sovereignty? Did they even transmit 
any diplomatic note, complaining of our conduct ? The line of 
our European policy has been so plainly described that it is im- 
possible to mistake it. We are to abstain from all interference 
in their disputes, to take no part in their contests, to make no en- 
tangling alliances with any of them ; but to assert and exercise 
our indisputable right of opening and maintaining diplomatic in- 
tercourse with any actual sovereignty. 

There is reason to apprehend that a tremendous storm is rea- 
dy to burst upon our happy country — one which may call into 
action all our vigor, courage, and resources. Is it wise or pru- 
dent, in preparing to breast the storm, if it must come, to talk to 
this nation of its incompetency to repel European aggression, to 
lower its spirit, to weaken its moral energy, and to qualify it for 
easy conquest and base submission ? If there be any reality in 
the dangers which are supposed to encompass us, should we not 
animate the people, and adjure them to believe, as I do, that our 
resources are ample; and that we can bring into the field a mil- 
lion of freemen, ready to exhaust their last drop of blood,and to 
spend the last cent in the defence of the country, its liberty, and 
its institutions? Sir, are these, if united, to be conquered by all 
Europe combined ? All the perils to which we can possibly be 
exposed, are much less in reality than the imagination is disposed 
to paint them. And they are best averted by an habitual con- 
templation of them, by reducing them to their true dimensions. 
If combined Europe is to precipitate itself upon us, we cannot too 
Boon begin to invigorate our strength, to teach our heads to think, 
our hearts to conceive, and our arms to execute, the high and 
noble deeds which belong to the character and glory of our 
country. The experience of the world instructs us, that con- 
quests are already achieved, which are boldly and firmly resolv- 
ed on ; and that men only become slaves who have ceased to re- 
Bolve to be free. If we wish to cover ourselves with the best of 
all armour, let us not discourage our people, let us stimulate their 
ardor, let us sustain their resolution, let us proclaim to them that 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION, 153 

we feel as they feel, and that, with them, we are determined to 
live or die Hke freemen. 

Surely, sir, we need no long or learned lectures about the na- 
ture of government, and the influence of property or ranks on 
society. We may content ourselves with studying the true 
character of our own people; and with knowing that the interests 
are confided to us of a nation capable of doing and suffering all 
tilings for its liberty. Sucii a nation, if its rulers be faithful, 
must be invincible. I well remember an observation made to 
me, by the most illustrious female* of the age, if not of her sex. 
All history showed, slie said, that a nation was never conquered. 
No, sir, no united nation that resolves to be free, can be conquer- 
ed. And has it come to this ? Are we so humbled, so low, so 
debased, that we dare not express our sympathy for suffering 
Greece, that we dare not articulate our detestation of the brutal 
excesses of which she has been the bleeding victim, lest we 
might ofl'end some one or more of their imperial and royal ma- 
jesties? If gentlemen are afraid to act rashly on such a subject, 
suppose, Mr. Chairman, that we unite in an humble petition, ad- 
dressed to their majesties, beseeching them that of their gracious 
condescension, they would allow us to express our feelings and 
our sympathies. How shall it run? "We, the representatives 
of the/ree people of the United States of America, humbly ap- 
proach the thrones of your imperial and royal majesties, and 
supplicate that, of your imperial and royal clemency," — I cannot 
go through the disgusting recital — my lips have not yet learnt 
to pronounce the sycophantic language of a degraded slave ! 
Are Ave so mean, so base, so despicable, that we may not attempt 
to express our horror, utter our indignation, at the most brutal 
and attrocious war that ever stained earth or shocked high 
Heaven, at the ferocious deeds of a savage and infuriated sol- 
diery, stimulated and urged on by the clergy of a fanatical and 
inimical religion, and rioting in all the excesses of blood and 
butchery, at the mere details of which the heart sickens and re- 
coils ! 

If the great body of Christendom can look on calmly and cool- 
ly, whilst all this is perpetrated on a Christian people, in its own 
immediate vicinity, in its very presence, let us at least evince 
that one of its remote extremities is susceptible of sensibility to 
Christian wrongs, and capable of sympathy for Christian suffer- 
ings ; that in this remote quarter of the world, there are hearts 
not yet closed against compassion for human woes, that can 
pour out their indignant feelings at the oppression of a people 
endeared to us by every ancient recollection, and every modern 
tie. Sir, the committee has been attempted to be alarmed by the 
dangers to our commerce in the Mediterranean; and a wretched 
invoice of figs and opium has been spread before us to repress 
our sensibihties and to eradicate our humanity. Ah I sir, "what 

* Mad. de Slael. 



154 ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

ehall it profit a man if lie gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul," or what shall it avail a nation to save the whole of a mis- 
erable trade and lose its liberties ? 

On the subject of the other independent American states, 
hitherto it has not been necessary to depart from the rule of our 
foreign relations, observed in regard to Europe. ■, Whether it 
will become us to do so or not, will be considered when we take 
up another resolution, lying on the table. But we may not only 
adopt this measure ; we may go further, we may recognize the 
government in the Morea, if actually independent, and it will be 
neither war, nor cause of war, nor any violation of our neutrality. 
Besides, sir, what is Greece to the allies ? A part of the domin- 
ions of any of them ? By no means. Suppose the people in one 
of the Philippine isles, or any other spot still more insulated and 
remote, in Asia or Africa, were to resist their former rulers, and 
set up and establish a new government, are we not to recognize 
them in dread of the holy allies? If they are going to interfere, 
from the danger of the contagion of the example, here is the spot, 
our own favored land, where they must strike. This govern- 
ment, you, Mr. Chairman, and the body over which you preside, 
are the living and cutting reproach to allied despotism. If we 
are to offend them, it is not by passing this resolution. We are 
daily and hourly giving them cause of war. It is Acre, and in 
our free institutions, that they will assail us. They will attack 
us because you sit beneath that canopy, and we are freely de- 
bating and deliberating upon the great interests of free men, and 
dispensing the blessings of free government. They will strike, 
because we pass one of those bills on your table. The passage 
of the least of them, by our free authority, is more galling to des- 
potic powers, than would be the adoption of this so much dread- 
ed resolution. Pass it, and what do you ? You exercise an in- 
disputable attribute of sovereignty, for which you are responsible 
to none of tliem. You do the same when you perform any other 
legislative function ; no less. If the allies object to this measure, 
let them forbid us to take a vote in tliis house ; let them strip ub 
of every attribute of independent government: let them disperse 
us. 

Will gentlemen attempt to maintain that, on the principles of 
the law of nations, those allies would have cause of war? If 
there be any principle which has been settled for ages, any 
which is founded in the very nature of things, it is that every in- 
dependent state has the clear right to judge of the fact of the ex- 
istence of other sovereign powers. I admit that there may be a 
state of inchoate initiative sovereignty, in which a new govern- 
ment, just struggling into being, cannot be said yet perfectly to 
exist. But the premature recognition of such new government, 
can give offence justly to no other than its ancient sovereign. 
The right of recognition comprehends the right to be informed; 
and the means of information must, of necessity, depend upon 
the sound discretion of the party seeking it. You may send out 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 155 

a commission of inquiry, and charge it with a provident attention 
to your own people and your own interests. Such will be the 
character of the proposed agency. It will not necessarily follow 
that any public functionary will be appointed by the President. 
You merely grant the means by which the executive may act 
when he thinks proper. What does he tell you in his message 1 
That Greece is contending for her independence ; that all sym- 
pathize with her ; and that no power has declared against her. 
Pass this resolution, and what is the reply which it conveys to 
him 1 " You have sent us grateful intelligence ; we feel warm- 
ly for Greece ; and we grant you money, that, when you shall 
think it proper, when the interests of this nation shall not be jeo- 
pardized, you may depute a commissioner or public agent to 
Greece." The whole responsibility is then left where the con- 
stitution puts it. A member in his place may make a speech or 
proposition, the house may even pass a vote, in respect to our 
foreign affairs, which the President, with the whole field lying 
full before hira, would not deem it expedient to effectuate. 

But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I desire to see this 
measure adopted. It will give to her but little support, and that 
purely of a moral kind. It is principally tor America, for the 
credit and character of our common country, for our own unsullied 
name, that I hope to see it pass. What, Mr. Chairman, appear- 
ance on the page of history, would a record like this exhibit ? 
" In the month of January, in the year of our Lord and Saviour, 
1324, while all European Christendom beheld, with cold and un- 
feeling indifference, the unexampled wrongs and inexpressible 
misery of Christian Greece, a proposition was made in the Con- 
gress of the United States, almost the sole, the last, the greatest 
depository of human hope and human freedom, the representa- 
tives of a gallant nation, containing a million of freemen ready 
to fly to arms, while the people of that nation were spontaneous- 
ly expressing its deep-toned feeling, and the whole continent, by 
one simultaneous emotion, was rising, and solemnly and anxious- 
ly supplicating and invoking high Heaven to spare and succor 
Greece, and to invigorate her arms, in her glorious cause, Avhile 
temples and senate houses were alike resounding with one burst 
of generous and holy sympathy; — in the year of our Lord and 
Savior, that Savior of Greece and of us — a proposition was of- 
fered in the American Congress to send a messenger to Greece, 
to inquire into her state and condition, with a kind expression of^ 
our good wishes and our sympathies — and it was rejected !" Go 
home, if you can, go home, if you dare, to your constituents, and 
tell them that you voted it down — meet, if you can, the appalling 
countenances of those who sent you here, and tell them that you 
shrank from the declaration of your own sentiments — that you 
cannot tell how, but that some unknown dread, some indescrib- 
able apprehension, some indefinable danger, drove you from 
your purpose — that the spectres of scimitars, and crown?, and 
crescents, gleamed before you, and alarmed you ; and that you 



m IN DEFENCE OP 

Buppressed all the noble feelings prompted by religion, by liber- 
ty, by national independence, and by humanity. I cannot bring 
myself" to believe that such will be the feeling of a majority of 
this committee. But, for myself, though every friend of the 
cause should desert it, and I be left to stand alone with the gen- 
tleman from Massaclmsetts, I will give to his resolution the poor 
.sanction of my unqualified approbation. 



SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN 
SYSTEM, 

Against the British Colonial System. — Delivered in the Senate 
of the United States, February 2d, od and 6th, 1832. 

In one sentiment, Mr. President, expressed by the honorable 
gentleman from South Carolina, (Gen. Hayne,) though perhaps 
not in the sense intended by him, I entirely concur. I agree 
with him, that the decision on the system of policy embraced in 
tills debate, involves the future destiny of this growing country. 
One way, I verily believe, it would lead to deep and general dis- 
tress, general bankruptcy and national ruin, without benefit to 
any part of the Union: The other, the existing prosperity will 
be preserved and augmented, and the nation will continue rapidly 
to advance in wealth, power and greatness, without prejudice to 
any section of the confederacy. 

Thus viewing the cjuestion, I stand here as the humble but 
.•zealous advocate, not of the interests of one State, or seven 
States only, but of the whole Union. And never betbre have I 
felt, more intensely, the overpowering weight of that share of 
responsibiltty v/hich belongs to me in these deliberations. Never 
before have I had more occasion, than I now liave, to lament my 
want of those intellectual powers, the possession of which might 
enable me to unfold to this Senate, and to illustrate to this 
people, great truths, intimately connected witli the lasting wel- 
lare oi' my country. I should, indeed, sink, overwhelmed and 
subdued beneath the appalling magnitude of the task which liea 
before me, if I did not feel myself sustained and fortified by a 
thorough consciousness of the justness of the cause which I have 
espoused, and by a persuasion, I hope not presumptuous, that it 
has tlie approbation of that Providence who has so often smiled 
upon these United States. 

Eight years ago, it was my painful duty to present, to the 
other House of Congress, an unexaggerated picture of the gene- 
ral distress pervading the whole land. We must all yet remem- 
ber some of its frightful features. We all know that the people 
were then oppressed and borne down by an enormous load of 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 157 

debt; that the value of property was at the lowest point of de- 
pression; that ruinous sales and sacrifices were every where 
made of' real estate; that stop laws and relief laws and paper 
money were adopted to save the people from impending destruc- 
tion ; that a deficit in the public revenue existed, wliich com- 
pelled government to seize upon, and divert from its legitimate 
object the appropriations to the sinking fund, lo redeem the na- 
tional debt; anc^ that our commerce and navigation were threat- 
ened with a complete paralysis. In short, sir, if I were to select 
any term of seven years since the adoption of the present con- 
stitution which exhibited a scene of the most wide-spread dismay 
and desolation, it would be exactly that term of seven years 
which immediately preceded the establishment of the tariff of 
1824. 

I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting an 
imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled pros- 
perity of the country. On a general survey, we behold cultiva- 
tion extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the country im- 
proved, our people fully and profitably employed, and the pubhc 
countenance exhibiting tranquillity, contentment and happiness. 
And, if we descend into particulars, we have the agreeable con- 
templation of a people out of debt; land rising slowly in value, 
but in a secure and salutary degree ; a ready though not ex- 
travagant market for all the surplus productions of our industry; 
innumerable flocks and herds browsing atid gamboling on ten 
thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and verdant grasses; 
our cities expanded, and whole villages springing up, as it were, 
by enchantment ; our exports and imports increased and increas- 
ing, our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, swelling and fully occu- 
pied ; the rivers of our interior animated by the perpetual thun- 
der and lightning of countless steam-boats; the currency sound 
and abundant; the public debt of two wars nearly redeemed; 
and, to crown all, the public treasury overflowing, embarrassing 
Congress, not to find subjects of taxation, but to select the objects 
which shall be liberated from the impost. If the term of seven 
years were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity which this 
people have enjoyed since the establishment of their present 
constitution, it would be exactly that period of seven years which 
immediately followed the passage of the taritf of 1824. 

This transformation of the condition of the country from gloom 
and distress to brightness and prosperity, has been mainly the 
work of American legislation, fostering American industry, in- 
stead of allowing it to be controlled by foreign legislation, cher- 
ishing foreign industry. The foes of the American system, in 
1824, with great boldness and confidence, predicted, 1st. The 
ruin of the public revenue, and the creation of a necessity to 
resort to direct taxation. The gentleman from South Carolina, 
(Gen. Hayne,) I believe, thought that the tariff' of 1824 would 
operate a reduction of revenue to the large amount of eight 
14 



158 IN DEFENCE OF 

millions of dollars. 2d. The doslructioa of our navigation. 3(1. 
The desolation of commercial cities. And 4th. The a,]iigmenta- 
tion of the price of objects of consumption, and further decline 
in that of tlie articles of our exports. Every prediction which 
they made has lailed — utterly failed. Instead of the ruin of the 
public revenue, with which they then sought to deter us from the 
adoption of the American system, wc are now tlu-eatened with 
its subversion, by the vast amount of the public revenue pro- 
duced by that system. Every branch of our navigation has 
increased. As to tlie desolation of our cities, let us take, as an 
example, the condition of the largest and most commercial of all 
of them, the great northern capital. I have, in my hands, the 
assessed value of real estate in the city of Kew-Yorlc, from 1817 
to 1831. This value is canvassed, contested, scrutinized and 
adjudged by the proper sworn authorities. It is, therefore, enti- 
tled to full credence. During the first term, commencing with 
1817, and ending in the year of the passage of the taritl'of 1824, 
the amount of the value of real estate was, the first year, 
^57,799,435, and. after various fluctuations in the intermediate 
period, it settled down at $52,019,730, exhibiting a decrease, in 
seven years, of $5,779,705. During the first year of 1825, after 
the passage of the tarifl:', it rose, and, gradually ascending 
throughout the whole of the latter period of seven years, it 
finally, in 1831, reached the astonishing height of $95,716,485! 
Now, ii' it be said that this rapid growth of the city of New- 
York was the effect of foreign commerce, then it was not cor- 
rectly predicted, in 1824, that the tariff v/ould destroy foreign 
commerce, and desolate our commercial cities. If, on the con- 
trary, it be the effect of internal trade, then internal trade cannot 
be justly chargeable with the evil consequences imputed to it. 
The truth is, it is the joint effect of both principles, tlie domestic 
industry nourishing the foreign trade, and the foreign commerce 
in turn nourishing the domestic industry. No where more than 
in New-York is the combination of both principles so completely 
developed. In the progress of my argument, I will consider the 
effect upon the price of commodities produced by the American 
system, and show that the very reverse of the prediction of its 
foes, in 1824, has actually happened. 

Whilst we thus behold the entire 1 allure of all that was fore- 
told against the system, it is a subject of just felicitation to Vh 
friends, that all their anticipations of its benefits have been ful- 
filled, or are in progress of fulfilment. The honorable gentleman 
from South Carolina has made an allusion to a speech made by 
me, in 1824, in the other house, in support of the tariff, and to 
which, otherwise, I should not have particularly referred. But I 
would ask any one, who could now command the courage to peruse 
that long production, what principle there laid down is not true? 
what prediction then made has been falsified by practical expe- 
rience ? 

It is now proposed to abolish the system, to which we owe ho 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 159 

much of the public prosperity, and it is urged that the arrival of 
the period of the redemption of the public debt has been confi- 
dently looked to as presenting a suitable occasion to rid the coun- 
try of the evils with which the system is alledged to be fraught. 
Not an inattentive observer of passing events, 1 have been aware 
that, among those who were most early pressing the payment of 
the public debt, and, upon that ground, were opposing appropri- 
ations to other great interests, there were some who cared less 
about the debt than the accomplislmient of other objects. But 
the people of the United States have not coupled tlie payment of 
their pul,>!ic debt with the destruction of the protection of their 
industry, against foreign laws and foreign industry. Tliiiy have 
been accustomed to regard the extinction of the public debt as 
relief from a burthen, and not as the intliction of a curse. If it 
is to be attended or followed by the subversion of the American 
system, and an exposure of our establishments and our produc- 
tions to the unguarded consequences of the selfish policy of for- 
eign powers, the payment of the public debt will be the bitterest 
of curses. Its fruit will be like tlie fruit 

" Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world, and all our wo, 
With loss of Eden." 

If the system of protection be founded on principles erroneous 
in theory, pernicious in practice — above aii, ii' it be unconstitu- 
tional, as is alledged, it ought to be forthwith abolished, and not 
a vestige of it suifered to remain. But, before we sanction this 
sweeping denunciation, let us look a little at this system, its mag- 
nitude, its ramifications, its duration, and the high authorities 
which have sustained it. We shall see tiiat its foes will have ac- 
complished comparatively nothing, after having achieved their 
present aim of breaking down our iron-founderies, our woollen, 
cotton, and hemp manufactories, and our sugar plantations. The 
destruction of these would, undoubtedly, lead to the sacrifice of 
immense capital, tlic ruin of many thousands of our fellow citi- 
zens, and incalculable loss to the whole community. But their 
prostration would not disfigure, nor produce greater etl'ect upon 
the whole system of protection, in all its branches, than tJie de- 
struction of the beautiiul domes upon the capitol would occasion 
to the magnificent edifice which they surmount. Why, sir, there 
is scarcely an interest, scarcely a vocation in society, wliich is 
not embraced by the beneficence of this system. 

It comprehends our coasting tonnage and trade, from which 
all foreign tonnage is absolutely excluded. 

It includes all our Ibreign tonnage, with the inconsiderable ex- 
ception made by treaties of reciprocity with a i&w Ibreign pow- 
ers. 

It embraces our fisheries, and all our hardy and enterprising 
fishermen. 

It extends to almost every mechanic art : to tanners, cordvfain- 



160 IN DEFENCE OF 

ers, tailors, cabinet-makers, hatters, tinners, brass-workers, clock' 
makers, coach-makers, taliow-chaiidlers, trace-makers, rope-ma' 
kers, cork-cutters, tobacconists, whip-makers, paper-makers, nm^ 
breUa-makers, glass-blowers, stocking-weavers, butter-makers, 
saddle and harness-makers, cutlers, brush-makers, book-binders, 
dairy-men, milk-farmers, black-smiths, type-lbundcrs, musical in- 
strument-makers, basket-makers, milliners, potters, chocolate-- 
makers, floor-cloth-makers, bonnet-makers, hair-cloth-makers, 
copper-smiths, pencil-makers, bellows-makers, pocket book-ma- 
kers, card-makers, glue-makers, miisfard-makers, lumber-saw- 
yers, saw-makers, scale-beam-makers, scythe-makers, wood-saw-> 
makers, and many others. The mechanics enumerated enjoy a 
measure of protection adapted to their several conditions, varj'- 
ing from twenty to fifty per cent. The extent and importance 
of some of these artizans maybe e.stimated by a kw particulars. 
The tanners, curriens, boot and shoe-makers, and other v^rorkers in 
hides, skins and leather, produce an ultimate value per an.num 
of forty millions of dollars ; the manufacturers of hats and caps 
produce an annual value of fifteen millions ; the cabinet-makers, 
twelve millions ; the manufacturers of bonnets and hats for the 
female sex, lace, artificial flowers, combs, &c. seven millions; and 
the manufacturers of glass, five millions. 

It extends to all lower Louisiana, the Delta of which might as 
well be submerged again in the Gulf of Mexico, from which it 
has been a gradual conquest, as now to be deprived of the pro- 
tecting duty upon its great staple. 

It afl'ects the cotton planter* himself, and the tobacco planter, 
both of whom enjoy protection. 

The total amount of the capital vested in sheep, the land to 
sustain them, wool, Avoollen manufactures, and woollen fabrics, 
and the subsistence of the various persons directly or indirectly 
employed in the growth and manufacture of the article of wool, 
is estimated at one hundred and sixty-seven millions of dollars, 
and the number of persons at 150,000. 

The value of iron, considered as a raw material, and of its 
manufactures, is estimated at twenty-six millions of dollars per 
annum. Cotton goods, exclusive of the capital vested in the 
manufacture, and of the cost of the raw material, are believed 
to amount, annually, to about twenty millions of dollars. 

These estimates have been carclully made, by practical men, 
of undoubted character, who have brought together and embod- 
ied their information. Anxious to avoid the charge of exagge- 
ration, they have sometimes placed tlicir estimates below what 
was 1 elieved to be the actual amount of these interests. With 
regard to the quantity of bar and other iron annually produced, 
it°is derived from the known works themselves; and I know 

* To say nothins of cotton produced In other foreign countries, the cultivation of 
this articlp, of a very superior quality, ia constantly extending in the adjacent >Vlexi- 
can pnviuces, and, but for the duty, probably a large amount would be introduced 
into the United States, down Red river and along the coast of the Gulf ol iVlexico. 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 161 

some in western states which they have omitted in tlieir calcula- 
tions. 

Such are some of the items of this vast system of protection, 
which it is now proposed to abandon. We might well pause and 
contemplate, if human imagination could conceive the extent of 
mischief and ruin from its total overthrow, before we proceed to 
the work of destruction. Its duration is worthy, also, of serious 
consideration. Not to go behind the constitution, iLs date is 
coeval with that instrument. It began on the ever memorable 
4th day of July — the 4th day of July, 1789. The second act 
which stands recorded in the statute book, bearing the illustrious 
signature of George Washington, laid the corner stone of the 
whole system. Tliat there might be no mistake about the mat- 
ter, it was then solemnly proclaimed to the American people and 
to the world, that it was necessary for " the encouragement and 
protection of manufactures," that duties should be laid. It is in 
vain to urge tlie small amount of the measure of the protection 
then extended. Tlie great principle was then established by the 
lathers of the constitution, with the iather of his country at 
their head. And it cannot now be questioned, that, if the gov- 
ernment had not then been new and the subject untried, a greater 
measure of protection would have been applied, if it had been 
supposed necessary. Shortly after, the master minds of Jeffer- 
son and Hamilton were brought to act on this interesting sub- 
ject. Taking views of it appertaining to (he departments of 
foreign affairs and of the treasury, Avhich they respectively filled, 
they presented, severally, reports which yet remain monuments 
of their profound wisdom, and came to the same conclusion of pro- 
tection to American industry. Mr. Jefferson argued that foreign 
restrictions, foreign prohibitions, and ibrcign high duties, ought 
to be met, at home, by American restrictions, American prohibi- 
tions, and American high duties. Mr. Hamilton, surveying the 
entire ground, and looking at the inherent nature of the subject, 
treated it with an abiUty which, if ever equalled, has not been 
surpassed, and earnestly recommended protection. 

The wars of the French Revolution commenced about this 
period, and streams of gold poured into the United States 
through a thousand channels, opened or enlarged by the success- 
ful commerce which our neutrahty enabled us to prosecute. 
We forgot or overlooked, in the general prosperity, the necessity 
of encouraging our domestic manufactures. Then came the 
edicts of Napoleon, and the British orders in council; and our 
embargo, non-intercourse, non-importation, and war, followed in 
rapid succession. These national measures, amounting to a 
total suspension, for the period of their duration, of our foreign 
commerce, afforded the most efficacious encouragement to 
American manufactures; and accordingly, they every where 
sprung up. Whilst these measures of restriction and this state 
of war continued, the manufacturers were stimulated in tlieir 
14* 



162 IN DEFENCE OF 

enterprises by every assurance of support, by public sentiraenf, 
and by legislative resolves. It was about that period, (1808,) 
that S. Carolina bore her high testimony to the wisdom of the 
policy, in an act of her legislature, the preamble of which, now 
before nie, reads, "Whereas the establishment and encourage- 
ment of domestic manufactures is conducive to the interest of a 
state, by adding new incentives to industry, and as being the 
means of disposing, to advantage, the surplus productions of the 
agriculturist : and whereas, in the present unexampled state of 
the world, their establishment in our country is not only expe- 
dient, but politic, in rendering us independent of foreign nations." 
The legislature, not being competent to aflbrd the most effica- 
cious aid, by imposing duties on foreign rival articles, proceeded 
to incorporate a company. 

Peace, under the treaty of Ghent, returned in 1815, but there 
did not return with it the golden days which preceded the edicts 
levelled at our commerce by Great Britain and France. It found 
all Europe tranciuilly resuming the arts and the business of civil 
life. It found Europe no longer the con.sumer of our surplus, and 
the employer of our navigation, but excluding, or heavily bur- 
dening, almost all the productions of our agriculture ; and our 
rivals in manufactures, in navigation, and in commerce.' It 
tbund our country, in short, in a situation totally different from 
all the past — new and untried. It became necessary to adapt 
our laws, and especially our laws of impost, to the new circum- 
stances in which we found ourselves. Accordingly, that eminent 
and lamented citizen, then at the head of tlie treasury, (Mr. 
Dallas,) was required, by a resolution of the House of Represen- 
tatives, under date the 23d day of February, 1815, to prepare and 
report to the succeeding session of Congress, a system of revenue 
conformable with the actual condition of the country. He had 
the circle of a whole year to perform the work, consulted mer- 
chants, manufacturers, and other practical men, and opened an 
extensive correspondence. The report Avhich he made, at the 
6es:sion of ISIG, was the result of his inquiries and reflections, 
and embodies the principles which he thought applicable to the 
subject. It has been said that the tariff of 1816 was a measure of 
mere revenue ; and that it only reduced the war duties to a 
peace standard. It is true that the question then was, how 
much, and in what way, should the double duties of the war be 
reduced ? Now, also, the question is, on what articles shall the 
duties be reduced so as to subject the amounts of the future re- 
venue to the wants of the government ? Then it was deemed 
an inquiry of the first importance, as it should be now, how the 
reduction should be made, so as to secure proper encourage- 
ment to our domestic industry. That this was a leading object 
in the arrangement of the tariff of 1816, I well remember, and it 
is demonstrated by the language of Mr. Dallas. He says, in 
his report, '• There are few, if any governments, which do not 
regard the establishment of domestic manufactures as a chief 



/I 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 163 

object of public policy. The United States have always so re- 
garded it. * * * * The demands of the country, while the 
acquisitions of supplies from foreign nations was either prohibit- 
ed or impracticable, may have afforded a sufficient inducement 
for this investment of capital, and this application of labor ; but 
the inducement, in its necessary extent, must fail when the day 
o? competition returns. Upon that change in the condition of the 
country, the preservation of the manufactures, which private 
citizens, under favorable auspices, have constituted the property 
of the nation, becomes a consideration of general policy, to be 
resolved by a recollection of past embarrassments ; by the cer- 
tainty of an increased difficulty of reinstating, upon any emer- 
gency, the manufactures which shall be allowed to perish and 
pass away," &c. The measure of protection which he propos- 
ed was not adopted, in regard to some leadmg articles, and 
there was great difficulty in ascertaining what it ought to have 
been. But the principle was then distinctly asserted, and fully 
sanctioned. 

The subject of the American system was again brought up in 
1820, by the bill reported by the chairman oi' the committee of 
manufactures, now a member of the bencii of the supreme court 
of the United States, and the principle was successfully main- 
tained by the representatives of the people ; but the bill which 
they passed was defeated in the senate. It was revived in 1824, 
the whole ground carefully and deliberately explored, and the 
bill then introduced, receiving all the sanctions of the constitu- 
tion, became the law of the land. An amendment of the system 
was proposed in 1828, to the history of which I refer with no 
agreeable recollections. The bill of that year, in some of its 
provisions, was framed on principles directly adverse to the de- 
clared wishes of the friends of the policy of protection. I have 
heard — without vouching for the fact — that it was so framed, 
upon the advice of a prominent citizen, now abroad, with the 
view of ultimately defeating the bill, and with assurances that, 
being altogether unacceptable to the friends of the American 
system, the bill would be lost. Be that as it may, the most ex- 
ceptionable features of the bill were stamped upon it, against 
the earnest remonstrances of the friends of the system, by the 
votes of southern members, upon a principle, I think, as unsound 
in legislation as it is reprehensible in ethics. The bill was 
passed, notwithstanding, it having been deemed better to take 
the bad along with the good which it contained, than reject it alto- 
gether. Subsequent legislation has corrected the error then per- 
petrated, but still that measure is vehemently denounced by 
gentlemen who contributed to make it what it was. 

Thus, sir, has this great system of protection been gradually 
built, stone upon stone, and step by step, from the 4th of July, 
1789, down to the present period. In every stage of its progress 
it has received the deliberate sanction of Congress. A vast 
majority of the people of the United States has approved, and 



164 IN DEFENCE OP 

continues to approve it. Every chief magistrate of the United 
States, from Washington to the present, in some form or other, 
has given to it the authority of his name ; and however the 
opinions of tlie existing President are interpreted south of Ma- 
son's and Dixon's line, on the north they are at least understood 
to favor the estabhshment of a. judicious tariff. 

The question, therefore, which we are now called upon to de- 
termine, is not whether we shall establish a new and doubtful 
system of policy, just proposed, and for the first time presented 
to our consideration ; but whether we shall break down and de- 
stroy a long established system, patiently and carefully built up, 
and sanctioned, during a series of years, again and again, by 
the nation and its highest and most revered authorities. And 
are we not bound deliberately to consider whether we can pro- 
ceed to this work of destruction without a violation of the public 
faith ? The people of the United States have justly supposed 
that the policy of protecting their industry against foreign legis- 
lation and foreign industry, was fully settled, not by a single act, 
but by repeated and deliberate acts of government, performed 
at distant and frequent intervals. In full confidence that the 
policy was firmly and unchangeably fixed, thousands upon thou- 
sands have invested their capital, purchased a vast amount of 
real and other estate, made permanent establishments, and ac- 
commodated their industry. Can we expose to utter and irre- 
trievable ruin this countless multitude, without justly incurring 
the reproach of violating the national faith? 

I shall not discuss the constitutional question. Without 
meanin* any disrespect to those who raise it, if it be debateable, 
it has been sufficiently debated. The gentleman from South 
CaroUna suffered it to fall unnoticed from his budget; and itwae 
not until after he had closed his speech and resumed his seat, 
tliat it occurred to him that he had forgotten it, when he again 
addressed the senate, and, by a sort of protestation against any 
conclusion from his silence, put forward the objection. The re- 
cent free trade convention at Philadelphia, it is well known, were 
divided on the question ; and although the topic is noticed in 
their address to tlie public, they do not avow their own belief that 
the American system is unconstitutional, but represent that such 
is the opinion of respectable portions of the American people. 
Another address to the people of the United States, from a high 
source, during the past year, treating this subject, does not 
assert the opinion of the distinguished author, but states that of 
others to be that it is unconstitutional. From which I infer thai 
he did not, himself, believe it unconstitutional. 

[Here the Vice President interposed, and remarked that, if 
the Senator from Kentucky alluded to him, he must say that hia 
opinion was, that the measure was unconstitutional.] 

When, sir, I contended with you, side by side, and with per- 
haps less zeal than you exhibited, in 1816, I did not understand 
you then to consider the policy forbidden by the constitution. 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 165 

[The Vice-President again interposed, and said that the con- 
stitutional question was not debated at that time, and that he 
had never expressed an opinion contrary to that now intimated.] 

I give way witli pleasure to these explanations, which I hope 
will always be made when I say any thing bearing on the indi- 
vidual opinions of the chair. I know the delicacy of the posi- 
tion, and sym^pathize Avith the incumbent, whoever he may be. 
It is true, the question Avas not debated in 1816; and why not? 
Because it was not debateable ; it was then believed not fairly 
to arise. It never has been made as a distinct, substantial and 
leading point of objection. It never was made until the dis- 
cussion of the tariff of 1824,* when it was rather hinted at as 
against the spirit of the constitution, than formally announced 
as being contrary to the provisions of that instrument. What 
was not dreamt of before, or in 1816, and scarcely thought of 
in 1824, is now made, by excited imaginations, to assume the 
imposing form of a serious constitutional barrier. 

Such are the origin, duration, extent and sanctions of the 
policy which Ave are noAV called upon to subvert. Its beneficial 
effects, although they may vary in degree, have been felt in all 
parts of the Union. To none, I verily believe, has it been preju- 
dicial. To the north, every Avhere, testimonials are borne to the 
high prosperity which it has diffused.. There, all branches of 
industry are animated and flourishing. Commerce, foreign and 
dbmestic, active 5 cities and towns springing up, enlarging and 
beautifying; navigation fully and profitably employed, and the 
whole face of the country smiling with improvement, cheerful- 
ness and abundance. The gentleman from South Carolina has 
supposed that Ave, in the west, derive no advantages from this 
system. He is mistaken. Let him visit us, and he Avill find, 
from the head of La Belle Riviere, at Pittsburgh, to America, at 
its mouth, the most rapid and gratifying advances. He Avill be- 
hold Pittsburgh itself. Wheeling, Portsmouth, Maysville, Cincin- 
nati, Louisville, and numerous other towns, lining and orna- 
inenting the banks of that noble river, daily extending their 
limits, and prosecuting, Avith the greatest spirit and profit, nume- 
rous branches of the manufacturing and mechanic arts. If he 
Avill go into the interior, in the State of Ohio, he Avill there per- 
ceive the most astonishing progress in agriculture, in the useful 
arts, and in all the improvements to which they both directly 
conduce. Then let him cross over into my oAvn, my favorite 
State, and contemplate the spectacle AA'hich is there exhibited. 
He Avill perceive numerous villages, not large, but neat, thriving, 
and some of them higlily ornamented; many manufactories of 
hemp, cotton, avooI, and other articles. In various parts of the 
country, and especially in the Elkhorn region, an endless suc- 
cession of natural parks ; the forests thinned ; fallen trees and 
undergrowth cleared away; large herds and flocks feeding on 

*Mr. Clay has been since reminded that the objection, in the same way, was first 
lU'ged in the debate of ISiO, 



166 IN DEFENCE OF 

luxuriant grasses; and interspersed with comfortable, sometimes 
elegant mansions, surrounded hy extensive lawns. The honora- 
ole gentleman from vSouth Carolina says, that a profitable trade 
was carried on from the west, through the Seleuda gap, in 
mules, horses and other live stock, which has been checked by 
the operation of the tariff". It is true that such a trade was car- 
ried on between Kentucky and South Carolina, mutually bene- 
iicial to both parties ; but, several years ago, resolutions, at popu- 
lar meetings, in Carolina, were adopted, not to purchase the 
produce of Kentucky, by way of punishment for her attachment 
to the tariff. They must have supposed us as stupid as the sires 
of one of the descriptions of the stock of which that trade con- 
sisted, if they imagined that their resolutions would affect our 
principles. Our drovers cracked their whips, blew their horns, 
and passed the Seleuda gap, to other markets, where better hu- 
mors existed, and equal or greater profits were made. I have 
heard of your successor in the House of Representatives, Mr. 
President, this anecdote: that he joined in the adoption of those 
resolutions, but when, about Christmas, he applied to one of his 
South Carolina neighbors, to purchase the regular supply of 
jjork for tiie ensuing year, he found that he had to pay two prices 
for it; and he declared if that were the patriotism on which the 
resolutions were based, he would not conform to them, and, in 
point of fact, laid in his annual stock of pork by purchase from 
the first passing Kentucky drover.'' That trade, now partially 
resumed, was maintained by the sale of western productions, on 
the one side, and Carolina money on the other. From that con- 
dition of it, the gentleman from South Carolina might have drawn 
this conclusion, that an advantageous trade may exist, although 
one of the parties to it pays in specie for the production which 
he purchases from the other; and consequently that it does not 
follow, if we did not purchase British fabrics, that it might not 
be the interest of England to purchase our raw material of cot- 
ton. The Kentucky drover received the South Carolina specie, 
or, taking bills, or the evidences of deposite in the banks, carried 
these home, and, disposing of them to the merchant, he brought 
out goods, of foreign or domestic manufacture, in return. Such 
is the circuitous nature of trade and remittance, which no nation 
understands better than Great Britain. 

Nor has the system which has been the parent source of so 
much benefit to other parts of the Union, proved injurious to the 
cotton growing country. I cannot speak of South Carolina 
itself, where I have never been, with so much certainty; but of 
other portions of the Union in which cotton is grown, especially 
those bordering on the Mississippi, I can confidently speak. If 
cotton planting is loss profitable than it was, that is the result 
of increased production; but believe it lobe still the most profita- 
ble investment of capital of any branch of business in the Uni- 
ted Suites. And if a committee were raised, with power to send 
for persons and papers, I take it upon myself to say, that such 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 167 

would be the result of the inquiry. In Kentuckj', I know many 
individuals who liave their cotton plantations below, and retain 
their residence in that State, where they remain during the 
sickly season; and they are all, I believe, without exception, 
doing well. Others, tempted by their success, are constantly 
engaging in the business, whilst scarcely any comes from the 
cotton region to engage in -yvestern agriculture. A friend, now 
in my eye, a member of this body, upon a capital of less than 
seventy thousand dollars, invested in a plantation and slaves, 
made, the year before last, sixteen thousand dollars. A member 
of the other House, I understand, who, without removing him- 
self, sent some of his slaves to Mississippi, made, last year, about 
twenty per cent. Two friends of mine, in the latter State, whose 
annual income is from thirty to sixty thousand dollars, being 
desirous to curtail their business, have ofl'ered estates for sale 
which they are willing to show, by regular vouchers of receipt 
and disbursement, yield eighteen per cent, per annum. One 
of my most opulent acquaintances, in a county adjoining to that 
in which I reside, having married in Georgia, has derived a 
large portion of his wealth from a cotton estate there situated. 

The loss of the tonnage of Charleston, Avhich has been dwelt 
on, does not proceed from the tariff"; it never had a very large 
amount, and it has not been able to retain what it liad, in conse ■ 
quence of the operation of the principle of free trade on its navi- 
gation. Irs tonnage has gone to the more enterprizing and ad- 
venturous tars of the northern States, with whom those of the 
city of Charleston could not maintain ,i successful competition, 
ia the freedom of the coasting trade existing between the difler- 
ent parts of the Union. That this must be the true cause, is 
demonstrated by the fact, that, however it may be with the port 
of Charleston, our coasting tonnage, generally, is constandy in- 
creasing. As to tlie foreign tonnage, about one-half oi' that 
which is engaged in the direct trade between Charleston and 
Great Britain, is Englisli; proving that the tonnage of South 
Carolina cannot maintain itself in a competition, under the free 
and equal navisration secured by our treaty with that power. 

When gentlemen have succeeded in their design of an imme- 
diate or grado.al destruction of the American system, what is 
their substitute? Free trade! Free trade! The call for free 
trade is as unavailing as the cry of a spoiled child, in its nurse's 
arms, for the moon, or the stars that glitter in the firmament of 
heaven. It never has existed, it never will exist. Trade im- 
plies, at least, two parties. To be i'ree, it should be fair, equal 
and reciprocal. But if we throw our ports wide open to the ad- 
mission of foreign productions, free of all duty, what ports, of 
any other foreign nation, shall we find open to the free admission 
of our surplus produce? We may break down all barriers to 
free trade, on our part, but the work will not be complete until 
foreign powers shall have removed theirs. There would bo 
freedom on one side, and restrictions, prohibitions and exclu- 



168 IN DEFENCE OP 

Bions on the other. The feolts, and the bars, and the chains, of 
all other nations, will remain undisturbed. It is, indeed, possible, 
that our industry and commerce would accommodate themselves 
to this unequal and unjust state of things; for, such is the flexi- 
bility of our nature, that it bends itself to all circumstances. The 
wretched prisoner, incarcerated in a jail, atter a long time be- 
comes reconciled to his soHtude, and regularly notches down the 
passing days cf his confinement. 

Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that they 
are reccmmending to our acceptance. It is; in effect, the British 
colonial system that we are invited to adopt; and, if their policy 
prevail, it will lead, substantially, to the recolonization of these 
States, under the commercial dominion of Great Britain. And 
whom do we find some of the principal supporters, out of Con- 
gress, of this foreign system ? Mr. President, there are some 
foreigners who always remain exotics, and ncv'er become natu- 
ralized in our country; whilst, happily, there are many others 
who readily attach themselves to our principles and our institu- 
tions. The honest, patient and industrious German readily 
unites with our people, establishes himself upon some of our fat 
land, fills his capacious barn, and enjoys, in tranquillity, the 
abundant fruits which his diligence gathers around hirn, always 
ready to fiy to tiie standard of his adopted country, or of its 
laws, when called by the duties of patriotism. The gay, the 
versatile, the philosophic Frenchman, accommodating himself 
cheerfully to all the vicissitudes of life, incorporates him.self, 
v/ithout diiFiculty, in our society. But, of all Ibreigners, none 
amalgamate themselves so quickly with our people as the na- 
tives of the Emerald Isle. In some of the visions which have 
passed through my imagination, I have supposed that Ireland 
was, originally, part and parcel of this continent, and that, by 
Bome extraordinary con\Tilsion of nature, it was torn from 
America, and, drilling across the ocean, was placed in the un- 
fortunate vicinity of Great Britain. The same open-hearted- 
ness ; the same generous hospitality; the same careless and 
uncalculating indifference about human life, characterize the 
inhabitants of both countries. Kentucky has been sometimes 
called the Ireland of America. And I have no doubt that, if 
the current of emigration were reversed, and set from America 
upon the shores of Europe, instead of bearing from Europe to 
America, every American emigrant to Ireland would there find, 
as every Irish emigrant here finds, a hearty welcome and a 
happy liome ! 

But, sir, the gentleman to whom I am about to allude, although 
long a resident of this country, has no feelings, no attachments, 
no sympathies, no principles, in common with our people. Near 
fifty years ago, Pennsylvania took him to her bosom, and wf;rmed, 
and cherished, and honored him ; and how does he manliest his 
gratitude? By aiming a vital blow at a system endeared to her 
by a tliorough conviction that it is indispensable to her pros- 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 169 

perity. He has filled, at home and abroad, some of the highest 
offices under this government, during thirty years, and he is still 
at heart an alien. The authority oi'his name has been invoked, 
and the labors of his pen, in the form of a memorial to Congress, 
have been engaged, to overthrow the American system, and to 
substitute the foreign. Go home to your native Europe, and 
there inculcate, upon her sovereigns, your Utopian doctrines of 
free trade, and, when you have prevailed upon them to unseal 
their ports, and Ireely admit the produce of Pennsylvania, and 
other States, come back, and we shall be prepared to become 
converts, and to adopt your faith. 

A Mr. Sarchet also makes no inconsiderable figure in the com- 
mon attack upon our system. I do not know the man, but I un- 
derstand he is an unnaturalized emigrant Irom the island of 
Guernsey, situated, in the channel which divides France and 
England. The principal business of the inhabitants is that of 
driving a contraband trade with the opposite shores, and Mr. 
Sarchet, educated in that school, is, I have been told, chiefly en- 
gaged in employing his wits to elude the operation of our reve- 
nue laws, by introducing articles at less rates of duty than they 
are justly chargeable with, which he effects by varying the de- 
nominations, or slightly changing their forms. This man, at a 
former session of the senate, caused to be presented a memorial 
signed by some 150 pretended workers in iron. Of Ihese a gen- 
tleman made a careful inquiry and examination, and he ascer- 
tained that there were only about ten of the denomination repre- 
sented ; the rest were tavern keepers, porters, merchants' clerks, 
hackney coachmen, &c. I have the most respectable authority, 
in black and white, for this statement. 

[Here Gen. Hayne asked, who? and was he a manufacturer? 
Mr. Clay replied, Col. Murray, of New- York, a gentleman of the 
highest standing for honor, probity, and veracity ; that he did not 
know whether he was a manufacturer or not, but the gentleman 
might take him as one.*] 

Whether Mr. Sarchet got up the late petition presented to the 
senate from the journeymen tailors of Philadelphia, or not, I do 
not know. But I should not be surprised if it were a movement 
of his, and if we should find that he has cabbaged from other 
classes of society to swell out the number of signatures. 

To the facts manufactured by Mr. Sarchet, and the theoriee 
by Mr. Gallatin, there was yet wanting one circumstance to re- 
commend them to favorable consideration, and that was the au- 
thority of some high name. There was no difficulty in obtaining 
one from a British repository. The honorable gentleman has 
cited a speech of my lord Goderich, addressed to the British par- 
liament, in favor of free trade, and full of deep regret that old 
England could not possibly conform her practice of rigorous re- 

* Mr. Clay subsequently understood that Col. Murray waa a merchant. 

15 



170 IN DEFENCE OF 

striction and exclusion to her liberal doctrines of unfettered com- 
merce, so earnestly recomn\ended to foreign powers. Sir, said 
Mr. C, I know my lord Goderich very well, although my ac- 
quaintance with him was prior to his being summoned to the 
British house of peers. We both signed the convention between 
the United States and Great Britain of 1815. He is an honora- 
ble man, frank, possessing business, but ordinary talents, about 
the stature and complexion of the honorable gentleman from 
South Carolina, a ^qv^ years older than he, and every drop of 
blood running in his veins being pure and unadulterated Anglo- 
Saxon blood. If he were to live to the age of Methuselah, he 
could not make a speech of such ability and eloquence as that 
which the gentleman from South Carolina recently delivered to 
the senate ; and there would be much more fitness in my lord 
Goderich making quotations from the speech of the honorable 
gentleman, than his quoting, as authority, the theoretical doc- 
trines of my lord Goderich. We are too much in the habit of 
looking abroad, not merely for manufactured articles, but for the 
sanction of high names, to support favorite theories. I have seen 
and closely observed, the British parliament, and, without dero- 
gating from its justly elevated character, I have no hesitation in 
saying, that in all the attributes of order, dignity, patriotism and 
eloquence, the American Congress would not suffer, in the small- 
est degree, by a comparison with it. 

I dislike this resort to authority, and es^ecmWy foreign and in- 
terested authority, for the support of principles of public policy. 
I would greatly prefer to meet gentlemen upon the broad ground 
of fact, of experience, and of reason \ but, since they will appeal 
to British names and authority, I feel myself compelled to imitate 
their bad example. Allow me to quote from the speech of a 
member of the British parliament, bearing the same family name 
with my lord Goderich, but whether or not a relation of his, I do 
not know. The member alluded to was arguing against the vi- 
olation of the treaty of Methuen — that treatj^, not less fatal to the 
interests of Portugal than would be the system of gentlemen, to 
the best interests of America — and he went on to say : 

"/i was idle for us to endeavor to persuade other nations to 
join vnth us in adopting the principles of what was called '■'■free 
trade.'''' Other nations knew, as well as the noble lord opposite, 
and those who acted with him, what we meant bij '■'•free trade " 
was nothing more nor less than, by means of the great advanta- 
ges we enjoyed, to get a monopoly of all their markets for our 
m/mujactures, and to prevent them, one and all, from ever beco- 
ming manvfacturing nations. When the system of reciprocity 
and free trade had been proposed to a French ambassador, his 
remark was, that the plan was excellent in theory, but, to make 
it fair in practice, it would be necessary to defer the attempt to 
put it in execution for half a century, until France should be on 
the same footing with Great Britain, in marine, in manufactures, 
in capital, and the many other pecuhar advantages which it now 



/l 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 171 

enjoyed. The policy that France acted on, was that of encour- 
aging its native maaufactures. and it was a wise poHcy ; because 
if it were freely to admit our manufactures, it would speedily be 
reduced to the rank of an agricuUural nation ; and therefore a 
poor nation, as all must be that depend exclusively upon agricul- 
ture. America acted too upon the same principle with France. 
America legislated for futurity — legislated for an increasing pop- 
ulation. America, too, was prospering under this system. In 
twenty years, America would be independent of England for 
manufactures altogether. ***** g^^j- gj^ce tlie peace, 
France, Germany, America, and all the other countries of the 
world, had proceeded vipon the principle of encouraging and pro- 
tecting native manufactures." 

But I have said that the S3^stem nominally called "free trade," 
so earnestly and eloquently recommended to our adoption, is a 
mere revival of the British colonial system, forced upon us by 
Great Britain during the existence of our colonial vassalage. 
The whole system is fully explained and illustrated in a work 
published as far back as the year 1750, entitled "The trade and 
navigation of Great Britain, considered by Joshua Gee," with 
extracts from which I have been furnished by the diligent re- 
searches of a friend. It will be seen from these, that the South 
Carolina policy now, is identical with the long cherished policy 
of Great Britain, which remains the same as it was when the 
thirteen colonies were part of the British empire. In that work 
the author contends — 

"1. That manufactures, in the American colonies, should be 
discouraged or prohibited. 

" Great Britain, with its dependencies, is doubtless as well able 
to subsist within itself as any nation in Europe : We have an en- 
terprising people, fit for all the arts of peace and war: We have 
provisions in abundance, and those of the best sort, and are able 
to raise sufficient for double the number of inhabitants : We have 
the very best materials for clothing, and want nothing either for 
use or even for luxury, but what we have at home or might have 
from our colonies : So that we might make such an intercourse 
of trade among ourselves, or between us and them, as would 
maintain a vast navigation. But we ought always to keep a 
watchful eye over our colonies, to restrain them from setting up 
any of the manufactures which are carried on in Britain ; and 
any such attempts should be crushed in the beginning ; for, if 
they are suffered to grow up to maturity, it will be difficult to 
suppress them." — Pages 177, 8, 9. 

"• Our colonies are much in the same state Ireland was in, 
when they began the woollen manufactory, and, as their num- 
bers increase, will fall upon manufactures for clothing them- 
selves, if due care be not taken to find employment for them in 
raising such productions as may enable them to furnish them- 
selves with all their necessaries from us." 

Then it was the object of this British economist to adapt the 



172 IN DEFENCE OF 

means or vvealtli of the colonists to the supply required by thei? 
necessities, and to make the mother country the only source of 
that supply. Now it seems the policy is only so far to be re- 
versed, that we must continue to import necessaries from Great 
Britain, in order to enable her to purchase raw cotton from us. 

" I should, therefore, think it worthy the care of the govern- 
ment to endeavor, by all possible means, to encourage them in 
raising of silk, hemp, flax, iron, [only pig, to be hammered 
m England] pot ash, &c., by giving them competent bounties in 
the beginning, and sending over judicious and skilful persons, at 
the public charge, to assist and instruct them in the most proper 
methods of management, which, in my apprehension, would lay 
a foundation for establishing the most profitable trade of any we 
have. And considering the commanding situation of our colo- 
nies along the sea-coast ; the great convenience of navigable 
rivers in all of them ; the cheapness of land, and the easiness of 
raising provisions ; great numbers of people would transport 
themselves thither to settle upon such improvements. Now, as 
people have been filled with fears that the colonies, if encourag- 
ed to raise rough materials, would set up for themselves, a liltle 
regulation would remove all those jealousies out of the wa3^ 
They have never thrown or wove any silk as yet that we have 
heard of Therefore if a law was made to prohibit the use of 
every throwster's mill, or doubling or horsling silk with any ma- 
chine wdiatever, they would then send it to us raw. And as 
they will have the providing rough materials to themselves, so 
shall we have the manufacturing of them. If encouragement 
be gi%''en for raising hemp, flax, &c., doubtless they will soon be- 
gin to manufacture, if not 'prevented. Therefore, to stop the 
progress of any such manufacture, it is proposed that no weaver 
there shall have liberty to set up any looms without first regis- 
tering at an office kept for that purpose, and the name and place 
of abode of any journeyman that shall work with him. But if 
any particidar inhabitant shall be inclined to have any linen or 
woollen made of their own spinning, they should not be abridged 
of the same liberty that they now make use of, viz: to carry to 
a weaver, (who shall be licensed by the governor), and have it 
Avrouglu up for the use of the family, but not to be sold to any 
person in a private manner, nor exposed to any market or fair 
upon pain of forfeiture. 

" And, inasmuch as they have been supplied with all tlieir 
manufactures from hence, except what is used in building of 
ships and other country work, one half of our exports being sup- 
posed to be in NAILS — a manufacture which they allow has never 
hitherto been carried on among them — it is proposed they shall, 
for time to come, never erect the manufacture of any under the 
size of a two shilling nail, horse nails excepted ; that all slittmg 
mills and engines, for drawing wire, or weaving stockings, be 
put dmon, and that every smith who keeps a common forge or 
shop, shall register his name and place of abode, and tlie name 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 173 

of every servant which he shall employ, which license shall he 
renewed once every year, -And. pay for the liberty of working at 
such trade. That all negroes shall be prohibited from weaving 
eitlier linen or woollen, or spinning or combing of wool, or work- 
ing at any manufacture of iron, further than making it into pig 
or bar iron. That they also be prohibted from manufacturing 
hats, stockings, or leather, of any kind. This limitation will not 
abridge the planters of any privilege they now enjoy. On the 
contrary, it will turn their industry to promoting and raising those 
rough materials." 

The author then proposes that the board of trade and planta- 
tions should be furnished with statistical accounts of the various 
permitted manufactures, to enable them to encourage or depress 
tlie industry of the colonists, and prevent the danger of interfer- 
ence with British industry. 

" It is hoped that this method would allay the heat that some 
people have shown, for destroying the iron works on the planta- 
tions, and pulling down all their forges — taking away, in a violent 
manner, their estates and properties — preventing the husband- 
men from getting their ploughshares, carts, and other utensils, 
mended; destroying the manufacture of ship building, by de- 
priving them of the libertj^ of making bolts, spikes, and other 
things proper for carrying on that work, by which article returns 
are made for purchasing our woollen manufactures." — Pages 
87, 88, 89. 

Such is the picture of colonists dependent upon the mother 
country for their necessary supplies, drawn by a writer who was 
not among the number of those who desired to debar them the 
means of building a vessel, erecting a forge, or mending a 
ploughshare, but who was willing to promote their growth and 
prosperity, as far as was consistent with the paramount interests 
of the manufacturing or parent state. 

" 2. The advantages to Great Britain from keeping the colon- 
ists dependent on her for their essential supplies. 

"If we examine into the circumstances of the inhabitants of 
our plantations, and our own, it will appear that not one-fourth 
part of their product redounds to their own profit, for, out of all 
that comes here, they only carry back clothing and other accom- 
modations for their families, all of which is of the merchandise 
and manufacture of this kingdom." 

After showing how this system tends to concentrate all the 
surplus of acquisition over absolute expenditure, in England, he 
says: 

" All these advantages we receive by the plantations, besides 
the mortgages on the planters' estates, and the high interest they 
pay us, which is very considerable ; and therefore very great 
care ought to be taken, in regulating all affairs of the colonists, 
that the planters be not put under too many difficulties, but en- 
couraged to go on cheerfully. 
15* 



174 IN DEFENCE OF 

" New-England, and the northern colonies, have not commodi- 
ties and products enough to send us in return for purchasing 
their necessary clothing, but are under very great difficulties ; 
and therefore any ordinary sort sell with them. And when they 
have grown out of fashion with us, they are new fashioned 
enough there." 

Sir, I cannot go on with this disgusting detail. Their refuse 
goods; their old shop-keepers; their cast-off clothes good enough 
for us ! Was there ever a scheme more artfully devised 
by wliich the energies and faculties of one people should be 
kept down and rendered subservient to the pride and the pomp, 
and the power of another ! The system then proposed diflers 
only from that which is now recommended, in one particular ; 
that was intended to be enforced by pov/er, this would not be 
less effectually executed by the force of circumstances. A gen- 
tleman in Boston, (Mr. Lee) the agent of the free trade conven- 
tion, from whose exhaustless mint there is a constant issue of re- 
ports, seems to envy the blessed condition of dependent Canada, 
when compared to the oppressed state of this Union ; and it is a 
fair inference from the view which he presents, that he would 
have us hasten back to the golden days of that colonial bondage, 
which is so well depicted in the work from which I have been 
quoting. Mr. Lee exhibits two tabular statements, in one of 
which he presents the high duties which he represents to be 
paid in the ports of the United States, and, in the other, those 
which are paid in Canada, generally about two per cent, ad val- 
orem. But did it not occur to him that the duties levied in Can- 
ada are paid chiefly on British manufactures, or on articles pass- 
ing from one part to another of a common empire; and that to 
present a parallel case in the United States, he ought to have 
shown that importations made into one state from another, 
v.diicii are now free, are subject to the same or higlier duties 
than are paid in Canada? 

I will now, Mr. President, proceed to a more particular con- 
sideration of the arguments urged against the protective system, 
and an inquiry into its practical operation, especially on the cot- 
ton growing country. And. as I wish to state and meet the ar- 
gument fairly, I invite the correction of my statement of it, if ne- 
cessary. It is alledged that the system operates prejudicially to 
the cotton planter, by diminishing the foreign demand for his 
staple; that we cannot sell to Great Britain, unless we buy from ' 
her ; that the import duty is equivalent to an export duty, and 
falls upon the cotton grower ; that South Carolina pays a dis- 
proportionate quota of the public revenue; that an abandonment 
of the protective policy would lead to an augmentation of our ex- 
ports of an amount not less than one hundred and fifty millions 
of dollars ; and finally, that 1he south cannot partake of the ad- 
vantages of nianuiacturiiig, if there be any. Let us examine 
these various propositions in detail. 1. That the foreign de- 
mand for cotton is diminished; and that we cannot sell to Great 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 175 

Britain unless we buy from her. The demand of both our great 
foreign customers is constantly and annually increasing. It is 
true, that the ratio of the increase may not be equal to that of 
production; but this is owing to the fact that the power of pro- 
ducing the raw material is much greater, and is, therefore, con- 
stantly in advance of the power of consumption. A single fact 
will illustrate. The average produce of laborers engaged in 
the cultivation of cotton may be estimated at five bales, or fifteen 
hundred weight to the hand. Supposing the annual average 
consumption of each individual who uses cotton cloth to be five 
pounds, one hand can produce enough of the raw material to 
clothe three hundred. 

The argument comprehends two errors, one of fact and the 
other of principle. It assumes that we do not in fact purchase 
of Great Britain. What is the true state of the case? There 
are certain, but very few articles which it is thought sound policy 
requires that we should manufacture at home, and on these the 
tariff operates. But, with respect to all the rest, and much the 
larger number of articles of taste, fashion, and utility, they are 
subject to no other than revenue duties and are freely introduced. 
I have before me from the treasury a statement of our imports 
from England, Scotland and Ireland, including ten years, prece- 
ding the last, and three quarters of the last year, from Avhich it 
will appear that, although there are some fluctuations in the 
amount of the different years, the largest amount imported in any 
one j''ear has been since the tariff of 1824, and that the last year's 
importation, when the returns of the fourth quarter shall be re- 
ceived, will probably be the greatest in the whole term of eleven 
years. 

Now, if it be admitted that there is a less amount of the pro- 
tected articles imported from Great Britain, she maybe, and pro- 
bably is, compensated for the deficiency, by the increased con- 
sumption in America of the articles of her industry not falling 
within the scope of the policy of our protection. The establish- 
ment of manufactures among us excites the creation of wealth, 
and this gives new powers of consumption, which are gratified 
by the purchase of foreign objects. A poor nation can never be 
a great consuming nation. Its poverty will limit its consumption 
to bare subsistence. 

The erroneous principle which the argument includes, is, that 
it devolves on us the duty of taking care that Great Britain shall 
be enabled to purchase from us without exacting from Great Bri- 
tain the corresponding duty. If it be true, on one side, that na- 
tions are bound to shape their policy in reference to the ability 
of foreign powers, it must be true on both sides of the Atlantic. 
And tliis reciprocal obligation ought to be emphatically regarded 
towards the nation supplying the raw material, by the manufac- 
turing nation, because the industiy of the latter gives four or five 
values to what had been produced by the industry of the former. 

But, does Great Britain practice towards us upon the princi- 



176 IN DEFENCE OF 

pies which we are now required to observe in regard to her? 
The exports to the United Kingdom, as appears Irom the same 
treasury statement just adverted to, during eleven years, from 
1821 to 1831, and exclusive of the fourth quarter of the last year, 
fall short of the amount of imports by upwards of forty-six mil- 
lions of dollars, and the total amount, when the returns of that 
quarter are received, will exceed fifty millions of dollars ! It is 
surprising how we have been able to sustain, for so long a time, 
a trade so very unequal. We must have been absolutely ruined 
by it, if the unfavorable balance had not been neutralized by 
more profitable commerce with other parts of the world. Of all 
nations. Great Britain has the least cause to complain of the trade 
between the two countries. Our imports from that single power 
are nearly one-third of the entire amount of our importations 
from all foreign countries together. Great Britain constantly 
acts on the maxim of buying only what she wants and cannot 
produce, and selling to foreign nations the utmost amount she 
can. In conformity with this maxim, she excludes articles of 
prime necessity produced by us — equally if not more necessary 
than any of her industry which we tax, although the admission 
of those articles would increase our ability to purchase from her, 
according to tiie argument of gentlemen. 

If we purchased still less from Great Britain than we do, and 
our conditions were reversed, so that the value of her imports 
from this country exceeded that of her exports to it, she would 
only then be compelled to do what we have so long done, and 
what South Carolina does, in her trade with Kentucky, make up 
for the uniavorable balance by trade with other places and coun- 
tries. How docs she now dispose of the one hundred and sixty 
millions of dollars' worth of cotton fabrics, which she annually 
sells ? Of that amount the United States do not purchase five 
per cent. What becomes of the other ninety-five per cent? Is 
it not sold to otlier powers, and would not their markets remain, 
if ours were totally shut ? Would she not continue, as she now 
finds it her interest, to purchase the raw material from us, to sup- 
ply those markets ? Would she be guilty of the folly of depri- 
ving herself of markets to the amount of upwards of $150,000,- 
000, because we refused her a market for some eight or ten mil- 
lions ? 

But if there were a diminution of the British demand for cot- 
ton equal to the loss of a market for the few British fabrics which 
are within the scope of our protective policy, the question would 
still remain, Avhethcr tlie cotton planter is not amply indemnified 
by the creation of additional demand elsewhere ? With respect 
to the cotton-grower, it is the totality of the demand, and not its 
distribiitiun, which affects his interests. If any sy&tem of policy 
will augment the aggregate of the demand, that system ie favor- 
able to his interests, although its tendency may be to vary the 
theatre ol" the demand. It could not, lor example, be injurious 
to him, itj instead of Great Britain continuing to receive the en- 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 177 

tire quantity of cotton which she now does, two or three hun- 
dred thousand bales of it were taken to tlie other side of the 
channel, and increased, to that extent, the French demand. It 
would be better for him, because it is always better to have sev- 
eral markets than one. Now, if, instead of a transfer to the op- 
posite side of the channel, of those two or three hundred thou- 
ijand bales, they are transported to the northern states, can that 
be injurious to the cotton grower? Is it not better for him? Is 
it not better to have a market at home, unaffected by war or oth- 
er foreign causes, for that amount of his staple ? 

If the establishment of American manufactures, therefore, had 
the sole effect of creating a new, and an American demand for 
cotton, exactly to the same extent in which it lessened the British 
demand, there would be no Just cause of complaint against the 
tariff. The gain in one place Avould precisely equal the loss in 
the other. But the true state of the matter is much more favora- 
ble to the cotton grower. It is calculated that the cotton manu- 
factories of the uTiited States absorb at least 200,0110 bales of 
cotton annually. I believe it to be more. The two ports of Bos- 
ton and Providence alone received, during tlie last year, near 
110,000 bales. The amount is annually increasing. The raw 
material of that two hundred thousand bales is worth six mil- 
lions, and there is an additional value conferred by the manu- 
facturer, of eighteen millions; it being generally calculated that, 
in such cotton Ikbrics as we are in the habit of making, the man- 
ufacture constitutes three fourths of the value ot the article. If, 
therefore, these twenty-four millions worth of cotton fabrics were 
not made in the United States, but were manufactured in Great 
Britain, in order to obtain them, we should have to add to the 
already enormous disproportion between the amount of our im- 
ports and exports, in the trade with Great Britain, the further 
sum of twenty-four millions, or, deducting the price of the raw 
material, eighteen millions ! And will gentlemen tell me how it 
would be possible for this country to sustain such a ruinous trade? 
From all that portion of the United Slates lying north and east 
of James river, and west of the mountains. Great Britain receives 
comparatively nothing. How would it be possible for the in- 
habitants of that largest portion of our territory, to supply them- 
selves with cotton fabrics, if they were brought from England 
exclusively? They could not do it. But ibr the existence of the 
American manufacture, they would be compelled greatly to cur- 
tail their supplies, if not absolutely to suffer in their comforts. 
By it.s existence at home, the circle of those exchanges is created 
which reciprocally difi'uses among all who are embraced witliin 
it the productions of their respective industry. The cotton 
grower sells the raw material to the manufacturer ; he buys the 
iron, the bread, the meal, the coal, and the countless number of 
objects of his consumption, from his fellow-citizens, and they 
in turn purchase his fabrics. Putting it upon the ground merely 
of supplying those with necessary articles who could not othec- 



178 IN DEFENCE OF 

wise obtain them, ought there to be, from any quarter, an objec- 
tion to the only system by which that object can be accomplished? 
But can there be any doubt, with those who will reflect, that the 
actual amount of cotton consumed is increased by the home 
manufacture? The main argument of gentlemen is founded 
upon the idea of mutual ability resulting from mutual exchanges. 
They would furnish an ability to foreign nations by purchasing 
from them, and I to our own people, by exchanges at home. If 
the American manufacture were discontinued, and that of Eng- 
land were to take its place, how would she sell the additional 
quantity of twenty-four millions of cotton goods, v/hich we now 
make? Tons'? That has been shown to be impracticable. To 
other foreign nations? She has already pushed her supplies 
to them to the utmost extent. The ultimate consequence would, 
then, be to diminish the total consumption of cotton, to say 
nothing now of the reduction of price that would take place by 
throwing into the ports of Great Britain the two hundred thou- 
sand bales which, no longer being manufactured in the United 
States, would go thither. 

2. That the import duty is equivalent to an export duty, and 
falls on the producer of cotton. 

[Here Gen. Hayne explained, and said that he never contended 
that an import duty was equivalent to an export dutj^, under all 
circumstances ; he had explained in his speech his ideas of the 
precise operation of the existing system. To which Mr. Clay 
replied that he had seen the argument so stated in some of the 
ingenious essays from the South Carolina press, and would 
therefore answer it] 

The framers of our constitution, by granting the power to 
Congress to lay imports, and prohibiting that of laying an export, 
duty, manifested that they did not regard them as equivalent. 
Nor does the common sense of mankind. An export duty fastens 
upon, and incorporates itself with, the article on which it is laid. 
The article cannot escape from it — it pursues and follows it, 
wherever the article goes; and if, in the foreign market, the 
supply is above or just equal to the demand, the amount of the 
export duty will be a clear deduction to the exporter from the 
price of the article. But an import duty on a foreign article 
leaves the exporter of the domestic article free, IsL to import 
specie; 2dly, goods which are free from the protecting duty; or, 
3dly, such goods as, being chargeable with the protecting duty, 
he can sell at home, and throw the duty on the consumer. 

But, it is confidently argued that the import duty falls upon the 
grower of cotton; and the case has been put in debate, and again 
and again in conversation, of the South Carolina planter, who ex- 
ports 100 bales of cotton to Liverpool, exchanges them for 100 
bales of merchandize, and, when he brings them home, being 
compelled to leave, at the custom house, forty bales in the form 
of duties. The argument is founded on the assumption that a 
duty Of forty per cent, amounts to a subtraction of forty from 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 179 

the 100 bales of merchandize. The first objection to it is, that 
it supposes a case of barter, which never occurs. If it be re- 
phed, that it nevertheless occurs in the operations of commerce, 
the answer would be that, since the export of Carolina cotton is 
chiefly made by New- York or foreign merchants, the loss stated, 
if it really accrued, would fall upon them, and not upon the 
planter. But, to test the correctness of the hypothetical case, 
let us suppose that the duty, instead of forty per cent., should 
be 150, which is asserted to be the duty in some cases. Theri, 
the f)lanter would not only lose the whole hundred bales of mer- 
chandize, which he had gotten for his hundred bales of cotton, 
but he would have to purclia^e, with other means, an additional 
fifty bales, in order to enable him to pay the duties accruing on 
the proceeds of the cotton. Another answer is, that if the pro- 
ducer of cotton in America, exchanged against English fabrics, 
pays the duty, the producer of those fabrics also pays it, and 
then it is twice paid. Such must be the consequence, unless the 
principle is true on one side of the Atlantic, and false on the 
other. The true answer is, that the exporter of an article, if he 
invests its proceeds in a foreign market, takes care to make the 
investment in such merchandize as, when brought home, he can 
sell with a fair profit; and, consequently, the consumer would 
pay the original cost, and charges and profit. 

o. The next objection to the American system is, that it subjects 
South Carolina to the payment of an undue proportion of the 
public revenue. The basis of this objection is the assumption, 
shown to have been erronepus, that the producer of the exports 
from this country pays the duty on its imports, instead of the 
consumer of those imports. The amount which South Carolina 
really contributes to the puplic revenue, no more than that of 
any other State, can be precisely ascertained. It depends upon 
her consumption of articles paying duties, and we may make an 
approximation sufficient for all practical purposes. The cotton 
planters of the valley of the Mississippi with whom I am ac- 
quainted, generally expend about one-third of their income in 
the support of their families and plantations. On this subject I 
hold in my hands a statement from a friend of mine, of great 
accuracy, and a member of the Senate. According to this state- 
ment, in a crop of ten thousand dollars, the expenses may fluc- 
tuate between two thousand eight hundred dollars and three 
thousand two hundred dollars. Of this sum, about one-fourth, 
from seven to eight hundred dollars, may be laid out in articles 
paying the protecting duty; the residue is disbursed for pro- 
visions, mules, horses, oxen, wages of overseer, &c. Estimating 
the exports of South Carolina at eight millions, one-third is two 
millions six hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and 
sixty-six dollars; of which, one fourth will be six hundred and 
sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty-six and two-thirds dol- 
lars. Now supposing the protecting duty to be fifty per cent., 
and that it all enters into the price of the article, the amount 



ISO IN DEFENCE OP 

paid by South Carolina would only be three hundred and thirty- 
three "thousand three hundred and thirty-three and one-third 
dollars. But the total revenue of the IJnited Slates may be 
stated at twenty-five millions, of which the proportion of South 
Carolina, whatever standard, whether of wealth or population, 
be adopted, would be about one million. Of course, on this 
view of the s\:bject, she actually pays only about one-third of her 
fair and legitimate share. I repeat, that I have no personal 
knowledge of the habits of actual expenditure in South Caroli- 
na; they may be greater than I have stated, in respect to other 
parts of the cotton country; but if they are, that fact does not 
ari.se from any defect in the system of public policy. 

4. An abandonment of the American system, it is urged, would 
lead to an addition to our exports of one hundred and fil'ty mil- 
lions of dollars. The amount of one hundred and fdty millions 
of cotton, in the raw state, would produce four hundred and 
fifty millions in the manufactured state, supposing no greater 
measure of value to be communicated, in the manvifactured 
form, than that which our industry imparts. Now, sir, Avhere 
would markets be tbund for this vast addition to the supply? 
Not in the United States, certainly, nor in any other quarter of 
the globe, England having already every v/here pressed her 
cotton manufactures to the utmost point of repletion. We must 
look out for new worlds; seek for new and unknown races of 
mortals to consume this immense increase of cotton fabrics. 

[Gen. Hayne said that he did not mean that the increase of 
one hundred and fifty millions to the amount of our exports 
would be of cotton alone, but of other articles.] 

What other articles? Agricultural produce — bread stud's, 
beef and pork? &c. V/here shall we find markets for them? 
Whither shall v/e go? To ifhat country whose ports are not 
hermetically sealed against theii- admission? Break down the 
home market, and you are without resource. Destroy all other 
interests in the country, for the imaginary purpose of advancing 
tlie cotton planting interest, and you inflict a positive injury, 
without the smallest practical benefit to the cotton planter. 
Could Charleston, or the whole south, when all other markets 
are prostrated, or shut against the reception of the surplus of our 
farmers, receive that surplus? Would they buy more than thej' 
might want for their own consumption? Could they find mar- 
kets which other parts of the Union could not? Would gentle- 
raen force the freemen of all north of James river, east and 
west, like the miserable slave, on the Sabbatli day, to repair to 
Charleston, with a turkey mider his arm, or a pack upon his 
back, and beg the clerk of some English or Scotch merchant, 
living in his gorgeous palace, or rolling in his splendid coach in 
the streets, to exchange his ^'^ truck'" for a bit of flannel to cover 
his naked wife and children! No! 1 am sure that I do no more 
than justxe to their hearts, when I believe that they would reject, 
what I believe to be the inevitable effects of their policy. 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 181 

5. But it is contended, in the last place, that the south cannot, 
from physical, and other causes, engage in the manufacturing 
arts. I deny the premises, and I deny the conclusion. 1 deny 
the fact of inability, and, if it existed, 1 deny the conclusion that 
we must, therefore, break down our manufactures, and nourish 
those of foreign countries. The soutli possesses, in an extraor- 
dinary degree, two of the most important elements of manufac- 
turing industry — water power and labor. The former gives to 
our whole country a most decided advantage over Great Britain. 
But a single experiment, stated by the gentleman Irom South 
Carolina, in whicli a faithless slave put the torch to a manufac- 
turing establishment, has discouraged similar enterprizes. We 
have, in Kentucky, the same description of population, and we 
employ them, and almost exclusively employ them, in many of 
our hemp manufactories. A neighbor of mine, one of our most 
opulent and respectable citizens, lias had one, two, if not three, 
manufactories burnt by incendiaries; but lie persevered, and his 
perseverance has been rewarded witli wealth. We found that 
It was less expensive to keep nighl watches, than to pay premi- 
ums for insurance, and we employed them. 

Let it be supposed, however, that the south cannot manulac- 
ture; must those parts of the Union which can, be therefore pre- 
vented? Must Ave support those of foreign countries? I am 
sure that injustice would be done to the generous and patriotic 
nature of South Carolina, if it were believed that she envied or 
repined at the success of other portions of the Union in branches 
of industry to which she might happen not to be adapted. — 
Throughout her whole career she has been liberal, national, 
high minded. 

The friends of the American system have been reminded by 
the honorable gentleman from Maryland, (Gen. Smith) that 
they are the majority, and he has admonished them to exercise 
their power in moderation. The majority ought never to trample 
upon the feelings, or violate the just rights of the minority. 
They ought never to triumph over the fallen, nor to make any 
but a temperate and equitable use of their power. But these 
counsels come with an ill grace from the gentleman from Mary- 
land. He, too, is a member of a majority — a political majority. 
And how has the administration of that majority exercised their 
power in this country ? Recall to your recollection the fourth of 
March, 1829. when the lank, lean famished forms, from fen and 
forest, and the four quarters of the Union, gathered together in 
the halls of patronage ; or stealing, by evening's twilight, into 
the apartments of the president's mansion, cried out, with ghast- 
ly faces, and in sepulchral tones: "Give us bread! Give uus 
treasury pap ! Give us our reward!" England's bard was mis- 
taken ; ghosts will sometimes come, called or uncalled. Go to 
the families who were driven from the employments on which 
they were dependent for subsistence, in consequence of their ejtr 
16 



182 IN DEFENCE OP 

ercise of the dearest right of freemen. Go to mothers, whilst 
hugging to their bosoms their starving children. Go to fathers, 
who, after being disqualified by long public service, for any other 
business, were stripped of their humble places, and then sought, 
by the minions of authority, to be stripped of all that was left 
them — tlieir good names — and ask, what mercy was shown to 
them ! As for myself, born in the midst of the revolution, the 
first air that I ever breathed on my native soil of Virginia, having 
been that of liberty and independence, I never expected justice, 
nor desired mercy at their hands ; and scorn the wrath and defy 
the oppression of power. 

I regret, Mr. President, that one topic has, I think, unneces- 
sarily been introduced into this debate. I allude to the charge 
brought against the manufacturing system, as favoring the 
growth of aristocracy. If it were true, would gentlemen prefer 
supporting foreign accumulations of wealth, by that description 
of industry, rather than in their own country '? But is it correct ? 
The joint stock companies of the north, as I understand them, 
are nothing more than associations, sometimes of hundreds, by 
means of which the small earnings of many are brought into a 
common stock, and the associates, obtaining corporate privi- 
leges, are enabled to prosecute, under one superintending head, 
their business to better advantage. Nothing can be more essen- 
tially democratic or better devised to counterpoise the influence 
of individual wealth. In Kentucky, almost every manufactory 
known to me, is in the hands of enterprising and self-made men, 
who have acquired whatever wealth they possess by patient and 
diligent labor. Comparisons are odious, and, but in defence, 
would not be made by me. But is there more tendency to aris- 
tocracy, in a manufactory, supporting hundreds of freemen, or in 
a cotton plantation, with its not less numerous slaves, sustaining 
perhaps only two white families — that of the master and the 
overseer ? 

I pass, Vv'ith pleasure, from this disagreeable topic, to two gen- 
eral propositions which cover the entire ground of debate. The 
first is that under the operation of the American system, the ob- 
jects wliich it protects and fosters are brought to the consumer 
at cheaper prices than they commanded prior to its introduc- 
" tion, or tlian they would command if it did not exist. If that be 
true, oi^ght not the country to be contented and satisfied with the 
system, unless the second proposition, which I mean presently 
also to consider, is unfounded? And that is, that the tendency 
of the system is to sustain, and that it has upheld, the prices of 
all our agricultural and other produce, including cotton. 

And is the fact not indisputable, that all essential objects of 
consumption, affected by the tariff, are cheaper and better, since 
Ihe act of 1824, than they were for several years prior to that 
law ? I appeal, for its truth, to common observation and to all 

Sractical men. I appeal to tlie larmer of the country, whether 
e does not purchase on better terms his iron, salt, brown sugar, 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 183 

cotton goods, and woollens, for his laboring people ? And I ask 
the cotton planter if he has not been better and more cheaply 
supplied with liis cotton bagging ? In regard to this latter ar- 
ticle, the gentleman from South Carolina was mistalven in sup- 
posing that I complained that, under the existing duty, the Ken- 
tucivy manulacturer could not compete with the Scotch. The 
Kentuckian furnishes a more substantial and a cheaper article, 
and at a more uniform and regular price. But it was the frauds, 
the violations of law, of which I did complain; not smuggling, in 
the common sense of that practice, which has something bold, 
daring, and enterprising in it, but mean, barefaced cheating by 
fraudulent invoices and lalse denomination. 

I plant myself upon this fact, of cheapness and superiority, as 
upon impregnable ground. Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity 
and produce a thousand speculative solutions of the fact, but the 
fact itself will remain undisturbed. Let us look into some par- 
ticulars. Tlie total consumption of bar iron, in the United 
States, is supposed to be about 146,000 tons, of which, 112,866 
tons are made within the country, and the residue imported. 
The number of men employed in the manufacture is estimated 
at 29,254, and the total number of persons subsisted by it, at 
146,273. The measure of protection extended to this necessary 
article, was never fully adequate until the passage of the act of 
1828 ; and what has been the consequence ? The annual in- 
crease of quantity, since that period, has been in a ratio of near 
twenty-five per cent., and the wholesale price of bar iron in the 
nortliern cities, was, in 1828, $105 per ton, in 1829, $100, in 1830, 
$90, and in 1S31, i>om $85 to $75 — constantly diminishing. We 
import verj^ little English iron, and that which we do, is very 
inferior, and only adapted to a few purposes. In instituting 
a comparison between that inferior article and our superior iron, 
subjects entirely different are compared. They are made by 
different processes. The English cannot make iron of equal 
quality to ours, at a less price than Ave do. They have three 
classes, best-best, and best, and ordinary. It is the latter which 
is imported. Of the whole amount imported, there is only about 
4,000 tons of foreign iron that pays the high duty; ^he residue 
paying only a duty of about thirty per cent., estimated on the 
prices of the importation of 1829. Our iron ore is superior to 
that of Great Britain, yielding often from sixty to eighty per 
cent, whilst theirs produces only about twenty-five. This fact is 
80 well known, that I have heard of recent exportations of iron 
ore to England. 

It has been alledged, that bar iron, being a raw material, 
ought to be admitted free, or with low duties, for the sake of the 
manufacturers themselves. But I take this to be the true prin- 
ciple, that, if our country is producing a raw material of prime 
necessity, and with reasonable protection, can produce it in 
sufficient quantity to supply our wants, that raw material ought 
to be protected, although it may be proper to protect the article 



184 IN DEFENCE OF 

also out of which it is manufactured. The tailor will ask protec- 
tion for himself, but wishes it denied to the grower of wool and 
the manufacturer of broadcloth. The cotton planter enjoys 
protection for the raw material, but does not desire it to be ex- 
tended to the cotton manufacturer. The ship-builder will ask pro- 
tection i'or navigation, but does not wish it extended to the essen- 
tial articles which enter into the construction of his ship. Each, 
in his proper vocation, solicits protection, but would have it de- 
nied to all other interests which are supposed to come into col- 
lision with liis. Now the duty of the statesman is, to elevate 
Isimself above these petty conflicts ; calmly to survey all the va- 
rious interests, and deliberately to proportion the measure of pro- 
tection (o each, according to its nature and to the general wants 
of society. It is quite possible that, ia the degree of protection 
which has been atlbrded to the various workers in iron, there 
may be some error committed, although I have lately read an 
argument of much ability, proving that no injustice has really 
been done to them. If there be, it ouglu to be remedied. 

The next article to which I would call the attention of the 
senate, is that of cotton fabrics. The success of our manufac- 
ture of coarse cottons is generally admitted. It is demonstrated 
by the fact that they meet the cotton Ihbrics of other countries, 
in foreign markets, and maintain a successful competition with 
them. There has been a gradual increase of the exports of this 
article, which is sent to Mexico and the South American repub- 
lics, to the Mediterranean, and even to Asia. The remarkable 
fact was lately communicated to me, that the same individual 
who, twenty-five years ago, was engaged in the importation of 
cotton cloth from Asia, ibr American consumption, is now en- 
gaged in the exportation of coarse American cottons to Asia, 
for Asiatic consumption ! And my honorable friend from Massa- 
chusetts, now in my eye, (Mr. Silsbee), informed me that, on 
liis departure from home, among the last orders which he gave, 
one was for the exportation of coarse cottons to Sumatra, in the 
vicinity of Calcutta ! I hold in my hand a statement, derived 
from the most authentic source, showing that the identical de- 
scription of cotton cloth, which sold, in 1817, at twenty-nine cents 
per yard, was sold in 1819, at twenty-one cents, in 1821, at nine- 
teen and a half cents, in 1823, at seventeen cents, in 1825, at 
fourteen and a half cents, in 1827, at thirteen cents, in 1829 at 
nine cents, in 1830, at nine and a half cents, and in 1831, at from 
ten and a half to eleven. Such is the wonderful effect of protec- 
tion, coaipetition, and improvement in skill, combined ! The 
year 1829 was one of some suffering to this branch of industry, 
probably owing to the principle of competition being pushed too 
far ; hence we observe a small rise in tlie article of the next two 
years. The introduction of calico printing into the United 
States, consitutes an important era in our manufacturing indus- 
try. It commenced about the year 1825, and has since made 
BUch astonishing advances, that the whole quantity now annu- 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 185 

ally printed is but little short of forty millions of yards— 'about 
two-thirds of our whole consumption. It is a beautiful manufac- 
ture, combining great mechanical skill with scientific discoveries 
in chemistry. The engraved cylinders for making the impres- 
sion require much taste, and put in requisition the genius of the 
fine arts of design and engraving. Are the fine graceiul forms of 
our fair countrywomen less lovely when enveloped in the chintses 
and calicoes produced by native industry, than when clothed in 
the tinsel of foreign drapery ? 

Gentlemen are, no doubt, surprised at these facts. They should 
not underrate the energies, the enterprise, and the skill, of our 
fellow-citizens. I have no doubt they are every way competent 
to accomplish whatever can be effected by any other people, il 
encouraged and protected by the fostering care of our own gov- 
ernment. Will gentlemen believe the fact, which I am author- 
ised now to state, that the United States, at this time, manufac- 
ture one-half the quantity of cotton which Great Britain did in 
1816 ! We possess three great advantages: 1st. The raw ma- 
terial. 2d. Water power instead of that of steam, generally used 
in England. And 3d. The cheaper labor of females. In Eng- 
land, males spin with the mule and weave; in this country wo- 
men and girls spin with the throstle and superintend the power 
loom. And can there be any employment more appropriate? 
Who has no: been delighted with contemplating tlie clock-work 
regularity of a large cotton manufactory? I have often visited 
them, at Cincinnati and other places, and always with increased 
admiration. The women, separated from the other sex, work in 
apartments, large, airy, well warmed, and spacious. Neatly 
dressed, with ruddy complexions, and happy countenances, they 
watch the work before them, mend the broken threads, and re- 
place the exhausted balls or broaches. At stated hours they are 
called to their meals, and go and return with light and cheerful 
Btep. At night they separate, and repair to their respective hou- 
ses, under the care of a mother, guardian or iriend. " Six days 
shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh 
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Accordingly, we be- 
hr)ld them, on that sacred clay, assembled together in His tem- 
ples, and in devotional attitudes and with pious countenances, 
offering their prayers to Heaven for all its blessings, of which it 
is not the least that a system of policy has been adopted by their 
country, which admits of their obtaining a comfortable subsist- 
ence. Manufactures have brought into profitable employment a 
vast amount of female labor, which, without them, would be lost 
to the country. 

In respect to woollens, every gentleman's own observation and 
experience will enable him to judge of the great reduction of 
price which has taken place in most of these articles, since the 
tariff of 1824. It would have been still greater, but for the high 
duty on the raw material, imposed for the particular benefit of 
16* 



186 IN DEFENCE Oi'' 

the farming interest. But, without going into particular detail^ 
I shall limit mvoeU' to inviting the attention of the senate to a sin- 
gle article of general and necessary use. The protection given 
to flannels in iS28 was fully adequate. It has enabled the Ame- 
rican manufacturer to obtain complete possession of the Ameri- 
can market ; and now, let us look at the efliect. 1 have before me 
a statement from a highly respectable mercantile house, showing 
the price of lour descriptions of flannel, during six years. The 
average price of them, in 1826, was thirty-eight and three-quar- 
ter cents; in 1S27, thirty-eigiit; in 1S28, (the year of the tarifii) 
forty-six; in 1S29, thirty-six; in 18:30, (notwitJistanding the ad- 
vance in the price of tiie wool,) thirty-two ; and in 1831, thirty- 
two and one-quarter. These fads require no comments. I have 
before me another statement of a practical and respectable man, 
well versed in the flannel manulacture in America and England, 
demonstrating that the cost of manufacture is precisely the same 
in both coui'.lries ; and that, although a yard of flannel which 
would sell in England at 15 cents, would conup.and here twenty- 
two, the dilference of seven cents is the exact ditierence between 
the duties in the two countries, which are paid on the six ounces 
of wool contained in a yard of flannel. 

Brown sugar, during ten years, from 1792 to 1802, with a duty 
of one and a half cents per pound, averaged fourteen cents per 
pound. The same article, daring ten years, from 1820 to 1830, 
with a duty of three cents, has averaged only eight cents per 
pound. Nails, witii a duty of five cents per pound, are selling at 
six cents. Window glass, eight by ten, prior to the tariff of 1824, 
sold at twelve or thirteen dollars per hundred feet; it now sells 
lor three dollars seventy-five cents. 

The gentleman from South Carolina, sensible of the incontes- 
tible fact of the very great reduction in the prices of the neces- 
saries of life, protected by the American system, has felt the full 
force of it, and has presented various explanations of the causes 
to which he ascribes it. The first is the diminished production 
of the precious metals, in consequence of the distressed state of 
the countries in which they are extracted, and the consequent 
increase of their value relative to that of the conmiodities for 
which they arc exchanged. But, if this be the true cause of the 
reduction of price, its operation ought to have been general, on 
all objects, and of course upon cotton among the rest. And, in 
point of li\ct, the diminished price of that staple is not greater 
than the diminution of tlie value of other staples of our agricul- 
ture. Flour, Avhich commanded, some years ago, ten or twelve 
dollars per barrel, is now sold lor five. The fall of tobacco has 
been still more. The kite foot of Maryland, which sold at from 
sixteen to twenty dollars per hundred, now produces only four or 
five. Tiiat of Virginia has sustained an equal dechne. Beef, 
pork, every article, almost, produced by the farmer, has decreas- 
ed in value. Ought not South Carolina then to submit (juietly 
to a state of things, which is general, and proceeds from an un- 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 187 

controlable cause ? Ought she to ascribe to the " accursed" ta- 
rifl' what results from the calamities of civil and foreign war, ra- 
ging in many countries? 

But, sir, I do not subscribe to this doctrine implicitly. I do not 
believe that the diminished production of the precious metals, if 
that be the fact, satislactorily accounts for the fall in prices : For 
I think that the augmentation of the currency of the world, by 
means of banks, public stocks and other facilities arising out of 
exchange and credit, has more than supplied any deficiency in 
the amount of the precious metals. 

It is further urged tliat the restoration of peace in Europe, af- 
ter the battle of Waterloo, and the consequent return to peace- 
ful pursuits of large masses of its population, by greatly increas- 
ing the aggregate amount of effective labor, had a tendency to 
lower prices ; and undoubtedly such ought to have been its natu- 
ral tendency. The same cause, however, must also have opera- 
ted to reduce the price of our agricultural produce, lor which 
tliere was no longer the same demand in peace as in war — and 
it did so operate. But its influence on the price of manufactured 
articles, between the general peace of Europe in 1815, and the 
adoption of our tariff in 1S24, was less sensibly I'elt, because, 
perhaps, a much larger portion of the labor, liberated by the dis- 
bandment of armies, was absorbed by manufactures than by ag- 
riculture. It is also contended that the invention and improve- 
ment of labor saving machinery have tended to lessen the prices 
of manufactured objects of consumption ; and undoubtedly this 
cause has had some effect. Ought not America to contribute her 
quota of this cause, and has she not, by her skill and e.xtraordi- 
narv adaptation to the arts, in truth, largely contributed to it? 

l* his brings me to consider what I apprehend to have been the 
most efficient of all the causes in the reduction of the prices of 
manufactured articles — and that is, competition. By competi- 
tion, the total amount of the supply is increased, and by increase 
of the supply, a competition in the sale ensues, and tiiis enables 
tlie consumer to buy at lower rates. Of all human powers ope- 
rating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of 
competition. It is action and re-action. It operates between in- 
dividuals in the same nation, and between different nations. It 
resembles the meeting of the mountain torrent, grooving, by its 
precipitous motion, its own channel, and ocean's tide. Unop- 
posed, it sweeps everything before it; but, counterpoised, the 
waters become calm, safe and regular. It is like tiie segments 
of a circle or an arch ; taken separately, each is nothing ; but, in 
their combination, they produce efficiency, symmetry, and per- 
fection. By the American system this vast power has been ex- 
cited in America, and brought into being to act in co-operation 
or collision with European industry. Europe acts within itself, 
and with America ; and America acts within itself, and with Eu- 
rope. The consequence is, the reduction of prices in both hem- 
ispheres. Nor is it liair to argue, from the reduction of prices in 



188 IN DEFENCE OF 

Europe, to her own presumed skill and labor, exclusively. We 
affect her prices, and she affects ours. This must always be the 
case, at least in reference to any articles as to which there is not 
a total non-intercourse; and if our industry, by diminishing the 
demand for her supplies, should produce a diminution in the price 
of tliose supplies, it would be very unfair to ascribe that reduc- 
tion to her ingenuity, instead of placing it to the credit of our 
own skill and exciled industry. 

Practical men understand very well this state of the case, 
whether they do or do not comprehend the causes which produce 
it, I have in my possession a letter from a respectable merchant, 
well known to me, in which he says, after complaining of the op- 
eration of the taritV of 1828, on the articles to which it applies, 
some of which he had imported, and that, his purchases having 
been made in England, before the passage of that tariff was 
known, it produced such an effect upon the English market, that 
the articles could not be re-sold without loss, he adds : " for it re- 
ally appears that, when additional duties are laid upon an arti- 
cle, it then becomes loicer instead of highei:" This would not 
probably happen, where the supply of the foreign article did not 
exceed the home demand, unless, upon the supposition of the in- 
creased duty having excited or stimnlated the measure of the 
home production. 

The great law of price is determined by supply and demand. 
Whatever affects either, affects the price. If the supply is in- 
creased, the demand remaining the same, the price declines ; if 
tlie demand is increased, the supply remaining the same, the 
price advances ; if both supply and demand are undiminished, 
the price is stationary, and the price is influenced exactly in pro- 
portion to the degree of disturbance to the demand or supply. It 
is therelbre a great error to suppose that an existing or new duty 
necessarily becomes a component element, to its exact amount, 
of price. If the proportions of demand and supply are varied by 
tlie duty, either in augmenting the supply, or diminishing the de- 
mand, or vice versa, price is affected, to the extent of that varia- 
tion. Bvit the duty never becomes an integral part of tlie price, 
except in the instances where the demand and the supply remain, 
after the duty is imposed, precisely what they were beibre, or the 
demand is increased, and the supply remains stationary. 

Competition, therefore, wherever existing, whether at home or 
abroad, is the parent cause of cheapness. If a high duty excites 
production at home, and the quantity of the domestic article ex- 
ceeds the amount which had been previously imported, the price 
will fall. This accounts for an extraordinary fact stated by a 
senator from Missouri. Three cents were laid as a duty upon a 
pound of lead, by the act of 1828. The price at Galena, and the 
other lead mines, afterwards fell to one and a half cents per 
pound. Now it is obvious that the duty did not, in this case, en- 
ter into the price : for it was twice the amount of the price. What 
produced the fall? It was stimulated production at home, exci- 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 1S9 

ted by the temptation of the exchisive possession of the home 
market. This state of things could not last. Men would not 
continue an unprofitable pursuit; some abandoned tke business, 
or the total quantity produced was diminished, and living prices 
have been the consequence. But, break down the domestic sup- 
ply, place us again in a state of dependence on the foreign source, 
and can it be doubted that we should ultimately have to supply 
ourselves at dearer rates ? It is not lair to credit the foreign 
market with the depression of prices produced there by the in- 
fluence of our competition. Let the competition be withdrawn, 
and their prices would instantly rise. On this subject, great mis- 
takes are committed. I have seen some most erroneous reason- 
ing in a late report of Mr. Lee, of the Wee trade convention, in 
regard to the article of sugar. He calculates the total amount 
of brown sugar produced in the world, and then states that what 
is made in Louisiana is not more than two and a half per cent, 
of that total. Although his data may be questioned, let us as- 
sume their truth, and what might be the result? Price being 
determined by the proportions of supply and demand, it is evi- 
dent that when the supply exceeds the demand, the price will 
fall. And the fall is not always regulated by the amount of thai 
excess. If the market at a given price, required five or fifty mil- 
lions of hogsheads of sugar, a surplus of only a few hundred 
might materially influence the price, and diff"use itself through- 
out the whole mass. Add, therefore, the eighty or one hundred 
thousand hogsheads of Louisiana sugar to the entire mass pro- 
duced in other parts of the world, and it cannot be doubted that 
a material reduction of the price of the article, throughout Europe 
and America, would take place. The Louisiana sugar substitu- 
ting foreign sugar, in the home market, to the amount of its an- 
nual produce, would force an equal amount of foreign sugar into 
other markets, which being glutted, the price would necessarily 
decline, and this decline of price would press portions of the for- 
eign sugar into competition, in the United States, with Louisiana 
sugar, the price of which would also be brought down. The fact 
has been in exact conformity with this theory. But now let us 
suppose the Louisiana sugar to be entirely withdrawn from the 
general consumption — what then would happen? A new de- 
mand would be created in America for tbreign sugar to the ex- 
tent of the eighty or one hundred thousand hogsheads made in 
Louisiana; a less amount, by that quantity, would be sent to the 
European markets, and the price would consequently every 
where rise. It is not, therefore, those who, by keeping on duties, 
keep down prices, that tax the people, but those who, by repeal- 
ing duties, would raise prices, that really impose burthens upon 
the people. 

But it is argued that, if, by the skill, experience, and perfec- 
tion which we have acquired, ia certain branches of manufac- 
ture, they can be made as cheap as similar articles abroad, and 
enter fairly into competition with them, why not repeal the 



190 IN DEFENCE OP 

duties as to those articles ? And why should we? Assuming 
the truth of the supposition the foreign article would not be in- 
troduced in the regular course of trade, but would remain ex- 
cluded by the possession of the home market, which the domes- 
tic article had obtained. The repeal, therefore, would have no 
legitimate etlect. But might not the foreign article be imported 
in vast quantities, to glut our markets, break down our establish- 
ments, and ultimately, to enable the foreigner to monopolize the 
supply of our consumption? America is the greatest foreign 
market for European manufactures. It is that to which Euro- 
pean attention is constantly directed. If a great house becomes 
bankrupt there, its store houses are emptied, and the goods are 
shipped to America, where, in consequence of our auctions, and 
our custom-hoLise credits, the greatest facilities are afforded in 
the sale of them. Combinations among manufacturers might 
take place, or even the operations of foreign governments might 
be directed to the destruction of our estabhshments. A repeal, 
therefore of one protecting duty, from some one or all of these 
causes, would be followed by flooding the country with the 
foreign fabric, surcharging the market, reducing the price, and 
a complete prostration of our manufactories; after which the 
foreigner would leisurely look about to indemnify himself in the 
increased prices which he would be enabled to command by his 
monopoly of the supply of our consumption. What American 
citizen, after the government had displayed this vacillating 
policy, would be again tempted to place the smallest confidence 
in the public faith, and adventure once more in this branch of 
industry? 

Gentlemen have allowed to the manufacturing portions of the 
community no peace ; they have been constantly threatened 
with tlie overthrow of the American system. From the year 
1820, if not from IS 16, down to this time, they have been held in 
a condition of constant alarm and insecurity. Nothing is more 
prejudical to the great interests of a nation than unsettled and 
varying policy. Although every appeal to the national legisla- 
ture has been responded to in conformity with the wishes and 
sentiments of the great majority of the people, measures of pro- 
tection have only been carried by such small majorities, as to 
excite hopes, on the one hand and fears on the other. Let the 
country breathe, let its vast resources be developed, let its ener- 
gies be fully put forth, let it have tranquillity, and, my word for 
it, the degree of perfection in the arts which it will exhibit, will 
be greater than that which has been presented, astonishing as 
our progrei?s has been. Although some branches of our man- 
ufactures might, and, in foreign markets, now do, fearlessly con- 
tend with similar foreign fabrics, there are many others, yet in 
their infancy, struggling with the difficulties which encompass 
them. We shouldlook at the whole system, and recollect that 
time, when we contemplate the great movements of a nation, is 
very diiicrent from the short period which is allotted for the du- 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 191 

ration of individual life. The honorable gentleman from South 
Carolina well and eloquently said, in 1824, "No great interest 
of any country ever yet grew up in a day ; no new branch of in- 
dustry can become firmly and profitably established, but in a 
long course of years ; every thing, indeed, great or good, is ma- 
tured by slow degrees: that which attains a speedy maturity is 
of small value, and is destined to a brief existence. It is the 
order of Providence, that powers gradually developed, shall 
alone attain permanency and perfection. Thus must it be with 
our national institutions and national character itself." 

I feel most sensibly, Mr. President, how much I have trespass- 
ed upon the senate. My apology is a deep and deliberate con- 
viction, that the great cause under debate involves the prosperity 
and the destiny of the Union. But the best requital I can make, 
for the friendly indulgence which has been extended to me by 
the senate, and for which I shall ever retain sentiments of lasting 
gratitude, is to proceed, with as little delay as practicable, to the 
conclusion of a discourse v^hich has not been more tedious to the 
senate than exhausting to me. I have now to consider the re- 
maining of the two proposititions which I have already an- 
nounced. That is : 

2dly. That under the operation of the American system, the 
products of our agriculture command a higher price than they 
would do without it, by the creation of a home market; and by 
the augmentation of wealth produced by manufacturing indus- 
try, which enlarges our powers of consumption both of domestic 
and foreign articles. The importance of the home market is 
among the established maxims which are universally recognised 
by all writers and all men. However some may differ as to the 
relative advantages of the foreign and the home market none deny 
to the latter great value and high consideration. It is nearer to 
us ; beyond the control of foreign legislation ; and undisturbed 
by those vicissitudes to which all inter-national intercourse is 
more or less exposed. The most stupid are sensible of the ben- 
efit of a residence in the vicinity of a large manufactory, or of a 
market town, of a good road, or of a navigable stream, wliich 
connects their i'arms with some great capital. If the pursuits of 
all men were perfectly the same, although they would be in pos- 
session of the greatest abundance of the particular produce of 
their industry, they might, at the same time, be in extreme want 
of other necessary articles of human subsistence. The uniformi- 
ty of the general occupation would preclude all exchanges, all 
commerce. It is only in the diversity of the vocations of the 
members of a community that the means can be found for those 
salutary exchanges which conduce to the general prosperity. 
And the greater that diversity the more extensive and the more 
animating is the circle of exchange. Even if foreign markets 
were freely and widely open to the reception of our agricultural 
produce, from its bulky nature, and the distance of the interior, 
and the dangers of the ocean, large portions of it could never 



192 IN DEFENCE OP 

profitably reach the foreign market. But let us quit this field 
of theory, clear as it is, and lool< at the practical operation of 
the system of protection, beginning with the most valuable staple 
of our agriculture. 

In considering this staple, the first circumstance that excites our 
surprise is the rapidity with which tlie amount of it has annually 
increased. Does not this fact, however, demonstrate that the 
cultivation of it could not have been so very unprofitable ! If 
the business were ruinous, Avould more and more have annually 
engaged in it? The quantity in 1S16 was eighty-one millions 
of pounds; in 1S26 two hundred and four m.illions ; and in 1830, 
near tiiree hundred millions ! The ground of greatest surprise 
is, that it has been able to sustain even its present price with 
such an enormous augmentation of quantity. It could not have 
been done but for the combined operation of three causes, by 
which the consumption of cotton fabrics has been greatly extend- 
ed, in consequence of their reduced prices : 1st. competition ; 
2d, the improvement of labor-saving machinery ; and 3dly, the 
low price of the raw material. The crop of 1819, amounting to 
eighty-eight millions of pounds, produced twenty-one millions 
of dollars ; tlie crop of 1823. when the amount was swelled to 
one hundred and seventy-lbur millions, (almost double that of 
1319,) produced a less sum by more than half a million of dol- 
lars ; and the crop of 1824, amounting to thirty millions of 
pounds less than that of the preceding year, produced a million 
and a half of dollars more. 

If there be any Ibundation tor the established law of price, 
supply, and demand, ought not the fact of this great increase of 
the supply, to account, satisfactorily, for the alledged low price 
of cotton ? Is it necessary to look beyond that single fact to the 
tariff — to the diminished price of the mines furnishing the pre- 
cious metals, or to any other cause, for the solution 1 This sub- 
ject is well understood in the south, and although I cannot apr 
prove the practice which has been introduced oi' quoting authori- 
ty, and still less the authority of newspapers, for favorite theories, 
I must ask permission of the senate to read an article from a 
southern newspaper. [Here General Hayne requested Mr. Clay 
to give the name of the authority, that it might appear whether 
it was not some other than a southern paper expressing southern 
Bentiments. Mr. Clay stated that it was from the Charleston 
City Gazette, one, he believed, of the oldest and most respeo- 
table prints in that city, although he was not sure what might be 
its sentiments on the question which at present divides the peo- 
ple of South Carolina.] The article comprises a full explana>- 
tion of the low price of cotton, and assigns to it its true caus© — 
increased production. 

Let us suppose that the home demand for cotton, which has 
been created by the American system, were to cease, and that 
the 200,000* bales, which the home market now absorbs, wepi 

• Mr. Clay itated ih»i he assumed the qiiantiiy which wm f enermlly computed. 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 193 

thrown into the glutted markets of foreign countries — would not 
the effect inevitably be to produce a further and great reduction 
in the price of the article? If there be any truth in the facts 
and principles which I have before stated and endeavored to 
illustrate, it cannot be doubted that the existence of American 
nianulactures has tended to increase the demand, and extend 
the consumption of the raw material; and that, but for this in- 
creased demand, the price of the article would have^fallen, pos- 
sibly one-half lower than it now is. The error of the opposite 
argument is, in assuming one thing, which, being denied, the 
whole fails; that is, it assumes that the whole labor of the United 
States would be profitably employed without manufactures. — 
Now, the truth is, that the system excites and creates labor, and 
this labor creates wealth, and this new Avealth communicatee 
additional ability to consume, which acts on all the objects con- 
tributing to human comfort and enjoyment. The amount of 
cotton imported into the two ports of Boston and Providence 
alone during the last year, (and it was imported exclusively for 
the home manutacture,) was 109,517 bales. 

On passing from that article to others of our agricultural pro- 
ductions, we shall find not less gratifying facts. The total quan- 
tity of flour imported into Boston, during the same year, was 
284,504 barrels, and 3,955 half barrels; of which, there were 
from Virginia. Georgetown and Alexandria, 114,222 barrels; of 
Indian corn, 681,131 bushels; of oats, 239,809 bushels; of rye, 
about 50,000 bushels ; and of shorts, 33,489 bushels. Into the 
port of Providence, 71,369 barrels of flour; 216,662 bushels of 
Indian corn, and 7,772 bushels of rye. And there were dis- 
charged at the port of Philadelphia 420,353 bushels of Indian 
corn; 201,878 bushels of wheat, and 110,557 bushels of rye and 
barley. There were slaughtered in Boston, during the same 
year, 1831, (the only northern city from which I have obtained 
returns,) 33,922 beef cattle; 15,400 stores; 84,453 sheep, and 
26,871 swine. It is confidently believed that there is not a less 
quantity of southern flour consumed at tlie north than 800,000 
barrels — a greater amount, probably, than is shipped to all the 
foreign markets of the world together. 

What would be the condition of the farming country of the 
United States — of all that portion which lies north, east and west 
of James river, including a large part of North Carolina, if a 
home market did not exist for this immense amount of agricul- 
tural produce? Without that market, where could it be sold? 

6ut he believed it much greater, and subsequent information justifies his belief. Ii 
appears from the report of the cotton committee appointed by the New-York Co«- 
vemion, that partial returns show a consumption of upwards of 250,000 bales; that 
the cotton manufacture employs nearly 40,000 females, and about 5,000 children; thai 
the total dependents on it are 131,489; that the annual wages paid are 812,155,723: 
Ihe annual value of its products «lM,306,076; the capital «14,914,934; the number 
of mills, 795; of spindles, 1,246,503; and of cloth made, 260,461,990 yard*. TbM 
Statement does not comprehend the western manufactures. 

17 



194 IN DEFENCE OP 

In foreign markets'? If their restrictive laws did not exist, their 
capacity would not enable them to purchase and consume this 
vast addition to their present supplies, which must be thrown 
in, or thrown away, but for the home market. But their laws 
exclude us from their markets, I shall content myself by calling 
the attention of the Senate to Great Britain only. The duties 
in the ports of the United Kingdom, on bread stuffs, are pro- 
hibitory, except in times of dearth. On rice, the duty is fifteen 
shillings sterling per hundred weight, being more than one hun- 
dred per cent. On manufactured tobacco, it is nine shillings 
sterling per pound, or about two thousand per cent. On leaf 
tobacco three shillings per pound, or one thousand two hundred 
per cent. On lumber, and some other articles, they are from 400 
to 1,500 per cent, more than on similar articles imported from 
British colonies. In the British Westlndies, the duty on beef, pork, 
hams and bacon is twelve shillings sterling per hundred, more 
than one hundred per cent, on the first cost of beef and pork in 
the western States. And yet Great Britain is the power in 
whose behalf we are called upon to legislate so that we may 
enable her to purchase our cotton ! Great Britain, that thinks 
only of herself in her own legislation! When have we expe- 
rienced justice, much less favor, at her hands? When did she 
shape her legislation in reference to the interests of any foreign 
power? Siie is a great, opulent and powerful nation; but 
haughty, arrogant, and supercilious — not more separated from 
the rest of the world by the sea that girts her island, than she is 
separated in feeling, sympathy, or friendly consideration of their 
welfare. Gentlemen, in supposing it impracticable that we should 
successfully compete with her in manufactures, do injustice to 
the skill and entcrnrize of their own country. Gallant, as Great 
Britain undoubtedly is, we have gloriously contended with her, 
man to man, gun to gun, ship to ship, fleet to fleet, and army to 
army. And I have no doubt we are destined to achieve equal 
success in the more useful, if not nobler contest for superiority 
in the arts nf civil life. 

I could extend and dwell on the long list of articles — the hemp, 
iron, lead, coal, and other items, for which a demand is created 
in the home market by the operation of the American system ; 
but I should exhaust the patience of the Senate. IVhere, where 
should we find a market for all these articles, if it did not exist 
at home? What would be the condition of the largest portion 
of our people, and of the territory, if this home market were 
annihilated? How could they be supplied with objects of prime 
neces-sity? What would not be the certain and inevitable dechne 
in the price of all these articles, bat for the home market? And 
allow me, Mr. President, to say, that, of all the agricultural 
parts of the United States which are benefitted by the operation 
of this system, none are equally so with those which border the 
Chesapeake bay, the lower parts of North Carolina, Virginieij 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 195 

and the two shores of Maryland. Their facilities of transporta- 
tion, and proximity to the north, give tiiem decided advantages. 
But, if all this reasoning were totally fallacious — if the price 
of manufactured articles were really higher, under the American 
system, than without it, I should still argue that high or low 
prices were themselves relative — relative to the ability to pay 
them. It is in vain to tempt, to tantalize us with the lower pri- 
ces of European, fabrics than our own, if we have nothing 
wherewith to purchase them. If, by the home exchanges, we 
can be supplied with necessary, even if they are dearer and 
worse, articles of American production than the foreign, it is 
better than not to be supplied at all. And how would the large 

f)ortion of our country which I have described be supplied, but 
or the home exchanges'? A poor people, destitute ol' wealtli or 
of exchangeable commodities, has nothing to purchase foreign 
fabrics. To them they arc equally beyond their reach, whether 
their cost be a dollar or a guinea. It is in this view of the 
matter that Great Britain, by her vast wealth — her excited and 
■protected industry — is enabled to bear a burthen of taxation 
which, when compared to that of other nations, appears enor- 
mous; but which, when her immense riches are compared to 
theirs, is light and trivial. The gentleman from South Caroli- 
na has drawn a lively and flattering picture of our coasts, bays, 
rivers and harbors; and he argues that these proclaimed the 
design of Providence, that we should be a commercial people. 
I agree with him. We differ only as to the means. He would 
cherish the toreign, and neglect the internal trade. I would fos- 
ter bo;h. What is navigation without ships, or ships without 
cargoes? By penetrating the bosoms of our mountains, and 
extracting from them their precious treasures ; by cultivating 
tlie earth, and securing a home market for its rich and abundant 
products ; by employing the water power with which we are 
blessed; by stimulating and protecting our native industry, in 
all its forms ; we shall but nourish and promote the prosperity 
of commerce, foreign and domestic. 

I have hitherto considered the question in reference only to a 
state of peace ; but a season of war ought not to be entirely 
overlooked. We have enjoyed near twenty years of peace ; but 
who ca,n tell when tiie storm of war shall again break forth? 
Have we forgotten, so soon, the privations to which, not merely 
our brave soldiers and our gallant tars were subjected, but the 
whole community, during the last war, for the want of absolute 
necessaries? To what an enormous price they rose! And how 
inadequate the supply was, at any price ! The statesman, who 
justly elevates his views, will look behind, as well as forward, 
and at the existing state of things ; and he will graduate the 
policy, which he recommends, to all the probable exigencies 
which may arise in the republic. Taking this comprehensive 
range, it would be easy to show that the higher prices of peace, 
if prices were higher in peace, were more than compensated by 



196 IN DEFENCE OF 

the lower prices of war, during which supplies of all essential 
articles are indispensable to its vigorous, etiectual and glorious 
prosecution. I conclude this part of the argument with the hope 
that my humble exertions have not been altogether unsuccessful 
in showing — 

1. That the policy which we have been considering ought to 
continue to be regarded as the genuine American system. 

2. That the free trade system, which is proposed as its sub- 
stitute, ought really to be considered as the British colonial 
system. 

3. That the American system is beneficial to all parts of the 
Union, and absolutely necessary to much the larger portion. 

4. That the price of the great staple of cotton, and of all our 
chief productions of agriculture, has been sustained and upheld, 
and a decline averted by the protective system. 

5. That, if the foreign demand for cotton has been at all 
diminished by the operation of tliat system, the diminution has 
been more than compensated in the additional demand created 
at home. 

6. That the constant tendency of the system, by creating com- 
petition among ourselves, and between American and European 
industry, reciprocally acting upon each other, is to reduce prices 
of manufactured objects. 

7. That, in point of fact, objects within the scope of the policy 
of protection have greatly fallen in price. ^t 

8. That if, in a season of peace, these benefits are experi- 
enced, in a season of war, when the foreign supply might be 
cut off, they would be much more extensively felt. 

9. And, finally, that the substitution of the British colonial 
system for the American system, without benefiting any section 
of the Union, by subjecting us to a foreign legislation, regulated 
by foreign interests, would lead to the prostration of our manu- 
factures, general impoverishment, and ultimate ruin. 

And now, Mr. President, I have to make a few observationa 
on a delicate subject, which I approach with all the respect that 
is due to its serious and grave nature. They have not, indeed, 
been rendered necessary by the speech of the gentleman from 
South Carolina, whose forbearance to notice the topic was 
commendable, as his argument, throughout, was characterized 
by an ability and dignity worthy of him, and of the Senate. 
The gentleman made one declaration, wiiich might possibly be 
misinterpreted, and I submit to him whether an explanation of it 
be not proper. The declaration, as reported in his printed speech, 
is, "the instinct of self interest might have taught us an easier 
way of relieving ourselves from this oppression. It wanted but 
the will to have supplied ourselves with every article embraced 
in the protective system, free of duty, without any other partici- 
pation on our part than a simple consent to receive them." — 
[Here Gen. Hayne rose and remarked, that tlie passages which 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 197 

immediately preceded and followed the paragraph cited, he 
thought, plainly indicated iiis meaning, which related to evasions 
of the system, by illicit introduction of goods, which they were 
not disposed to countenance in South Carolina.] I am happy to 
hear this explanation. But, sir, it is impossible to conceal from 
our view the facts that there is a great excitement in South 
Carolina ,: that the protective system is openly and violentl)'' 
denounced in popular meetings ; and that the Legislature itself 
has declared its purpose of resorting to counteracting measures — 
a suspension of which has only been submitted to, lor the pur- 
pose of allowing Congress time to retrace its steps. With re- 
spect to this Union, Mr. President, the truth cannot be too gene- 
rally proclaimed, nor too strongly inculcated, that it is necessary 
to the rchole and to all the 'parts — necessary to those parts, in- 
deed, in different degrees, but vitally necessary to each — and 
that threats to disturb or dissolve it, coming from any of the 
parts, would be quite as indiscreet and improper as would be 
threats from the residue to exclude those parts Irom the pale of 
its benefits. The great principle, which lies at the ibundution 
of all free governments, is, that the majority must govern; from 
which there is or can be no appeal but to the sword. That 
majority ought to govern wisely, equitably, moderately and con- 
stitutionally, but govern it must, subject only to that terrible 
appeal. If ever one, or several States, being a minority, can, 
by menacing a dissolution of the Union, succeed in forcing an 
abandonment of great measures deemed essential to the interests 
and prosperity of the whole, the Union, from that moment, is 
practically gone. It may linger on, in form and name, but 
its vital spirit has fled forever ! Entertaining these deliberate 
opinions, I would entreat the patriotic people ol' South Carolina — 
the land of Marion, Sumpter and Pickens — of Rutledge, Lau- 
rens, the Pinciaieys and Lowndes — of living and present names, 
which I would mention if they were not living or present — to 
pause, solemnly pause! and contemplate the frightful precipice 
which lies directly before them. To retreat may be painful and 
mortifying to their gallantry and pride, but it is to retreat to the 
Union, to safety, and to those brethren with whom, or with whose 
ancestors, they, or their ancestors, have won, on fields of glory, 
imperishable renown. To advance, is to rush on certain and 
inevitable disgrace and destruction. 

We have been told of deserted castles, of uninhabited Iialls, 
and of mansions, once the seats of opulence and hospitality, now 
abandoned and mouldering in ruins. I never had the honor of 
being in South Carolina; but I have heard and read of the sto- 
ries of its chivalry, and of its generous and open-hearted libe- 
rality. I have heard, too, of the struggles for power between 
the lower and upper country. The same causes which existed 
in Virginia, with which I have been acquainted, I presume, hav« 
had their influence in Carolina. In whose hands now are the 
17* 



19S IN DEFENCE OF 

once proud seats of Westover Curl, Maycox, Shirley,* and oth- 
ers, on James river, and in lower Virginia ? Under the opera- 
tion of laws, abolishing the principle of primogeniture, and pro- 
viding the equitable rule of an equal distribution of estates among 
those in equal degree of consanguinity, tliey have passed into 
other and stranger hands. Some of the descendants of illustri- 
ous families have gone to the far west, whilst others, lingering 
behind, have contrasted their present condition witli that of their 
venerated ancestors. They behold themselves excluded from 
their fathers' houses, now in the hands of those who vere once 
tlieir fathers' overseers, or sinking into decay ; their imaginations 
paint ancient renown, the fading hor.ors of tiieir nfir.t, glories 
gone by ; too poor to live, too proud lo worx, too high-minded and 
iionorable to resort to ignoble nr.ears of acquisition, brave, da- 
ring, chiva'rous, irhat can be t)ie cause of iheir present unhajipy 
state? The "accursed"' tarifi' presents itsi^lf to their excited 
imaginations, and tliey blinrjy rush into tlie ranks of those who, 
unfurling the banner of nullification," would place a state upon its 
sovereignty ! 

The danger to our Union does not lie on the side of persist- 
ence in the American system, but on that of its abandonment. 
If, as I have supposed and believe, the inhabitants of all north 
and east of .Tames river, and all west of the mountains, including 
Louisiana, are deeply interested in the preservation of that sys- 
tem, would they be reconciled to its overthrow ? Can it be ex- « 
pected that two-thirds if not three-fourths, of the people of the 
United States would consent to the destruction of a policy, be- 
lieved to be indispensably necessary to their prosperity? When, 
too, the sacrifice is made at the instance of a single interest, 
which they verily believe will not be promoted by it? In esti- 
mating the decree of peril which may be incident to two oppo- 
site courses of human policy, the statesman would be short-sight- 
ed who should content himself with viewing only the evils, real 
or imaginary, which belong to that course which is in practical 
operation. He should lii't himself up to the contemplation ol" 
those greater and more certain dangers which might inevitably 
attend the adoption of the alternative course. What would be 
the condition of this Union, if Pennsylvania and New-York, those 
mammoth members of our confederacy, were firmly persuaded 
'.hai their industry was paralysed, and their prosperity blighted, 
by ihe enforcement of the British colonial system, under the de- 
lusive name of free trade ? They arc now tranquil and happy, 
and contented, conscious of their welfare, and feeling a salutary 
i^nd rapid circulation of the products of home manufactures and 
home industry throughout all their great arteries. But let that 
be checked, let them feci that a ibreign system is to predominate, 
and the sources of their subsistence and comfort dried up; let 

♦ As to Sliirley. Mr. Ciay nckninvlcilipsliis mi.stakp.maile in the warmth of debate. 
It is yet tlio abode of llie respectable and liospitable descendants of its former opulent 
proprieUir. 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 199 

New-England and the west, and the middle states, all feel that 
they too are the victims of a mistaken policy, and let these vast 
portions of our country despair of any favorable change, and then 
indeed, might we tremble for the continuance and safety of this 
Union ! 
And need I remind you, sir, that this dereliction of the duty of 

f)rotecting our domestic industry, and abandonment of it to the 
ate of foreign legislation, would be directly at war with leading 
considerations which prompted the adoption of the present con- 
stitution? The states, respectively, surrendered to the general 
government the whole power of laying imposts on foreign goods. 
They stripped themselves of all power to protect their own man- 
ufactures, by the most efficacious means of encouragement — the 
imposition of duties on rival foreign fabrics. Did they create that 
great trust? Did they voluntarily subject themselves to this self- 
restriction, that the power should remain in the federal govern- 
ment inactive, unexecuted, and lifeless ? Mr. Madison, at the 
commencement of the government, told you otherwise. In dis- 
cussing at that early period this very subject, he declared that a 
failure to exercise this power would be a ^'^ fraud " upon the nor- 
thern states, to which may now be added the middle and western 
states. 

[Governor Miller asked to what expression of Mr. Madison's 
opinion Mr. Clay referred ; and Mr. C. replied, his opinion, ex- 

Eressed in the house of representatives in 1789, as reported in 
loyd's Congressional debates.] 

Gentlemen are greatly deceived as to the hold which this sys- 
tem has in the aflections of the people of the United States. They 
represent that it is the policy of New-England, and that she is 
most benefitted by it. If there be any part of this Union which 
has been most steady, most unanimous, and most determined in 
its support, it is Pennsylvania. Why is not that powerful state 
attacked? Why pass her over, and aim the blow at New-Eng- 
land? New-England came, reluctantly, into the policy. In 1824, 
a majority of her delegation was opposed to it. From the largest 
state of New-England there was but a solitary vote in favor of 
the bill. That enterprising people can readily accommodate 
their industry to any policy, provided it be settled. They sup- 
posed this was fixed, and they submitted to the decrees oi' gov- 
ernment. And the progress of public opinion has kept pace with 
the developements of the benefits of the system. Now, all New- 
England, at least in this house, (with the exception of one small, 
still voice) is in I'avor of the system. In 1324 all Maryland was 
against it ; now the majority is for it. Then, Louisiana, with one 
exception, was opposed to it ; now, without any exception, she is 
in favor of it. The march of public sentiment is to the south. 
Virginia will be the next convert ; and, in less than seven years, 
if there be no obstacles from political causes, or prejudices indus- 
triously instilled, the majority of eastern Virginia will be, as the 
majority of western Virginia now is, in favor of the American 



200 IN DEFENCE OF 

system. North Carolina will follow later, but not less cer- 
tainly. Eastern Tennessee is now in favor of the system. And, 
finally, its doctrines will pervade the whole Union, and the won- 
der will be, that they ever should have been opposed. 

I have now to proceed to notice some objections Avhich have 
been urged against the resolution under consideration. With 
respect to the amendment which the gentleman from South Caro- 
lina has offered, as he has intimated his purpose to modify it, I 
shall forbear, for the present, to comment upon it. It is contend- 
ed that the resolution proposes the repeal of duties on luxuries, 
leaving those on necessaries to remain, and that it will, therefore, 
relieve the rich, without lessening the burthens of the poor. And 
the gentleman from South Carolina has carefully selected, for 
ludicrous effect, a number of the unprotected articles, cosmetics, 
perfumes, oranges, &c. I must say, that this exhibition of the 
gentleman is not in keeping with the candor wliich he has gene- 
rally displayed ; that he knows very well that the duties upon 
these articles are trifling, and that it is of little consequence 
whether they are repealed or retained. Both systems, the Amer- 
ican and the foreign, comprehend some articles which may be 
deemed luxuries. The senate knows that the unprotected arti- 
cles which yield the principal part of the revenue, with which 
tliis measure would dispense, are coffee, tea. spices, wines and 
silks. Of all these articles, wines and silks alone can be pro- 
nounced to be luxuries ; and as to wines, we have already rati- 
fied a treaty, not yet promulgated, by which the duties on them 
are to be considerably reduced, if the universality of the use of 
objects of consumption determines (heir classification, coffee, tea 
and spices, in the present condition of civilized society, may be 
considered necessaries. Even if they were luxuries, why shpuld 
not the poor, by cheapening their prices, if that can bo effected, 
be allowed to use them ? Why should not a poor man be allow- 
ed to tie a silk handkerchief on his neck, occasionally regale him- 
self with a glass of cheap French wine, or present his wife or 
daughter with a silk gown, to be worn on Sabbtith or gala days? 
I am quite sure that I do not misconstrue the feelings of the gen- 
tleman's heart, in supposing that he would be happy to see the 
poor, as well as the rich, modercitcly indulging themselves in 
these innocent gratifications. For one, I am delighted to see tlae 
condition of the poor attracting the consideration of the oppo- 
nents of the tariff'. It is for the great body of the people, and 
especially for the poor, that I have ever supported the American 
system. It affords them profitable employment, and supplies the 
means ot" comfortable subsistence. It secures to them, certainly, 
necessaries of li!'e, manufactured at home, and places within their 
reach, and enables them to acquire a reasonable share of foreign 
luxuries ; whilst the system of gentlemen promises them neceesa- 
.ries made in foreign countries, and which are beyond their pow- 
er, and denies to them luxuries, which they would possess no 
means to purchase. 



/ 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 201 

The constant complaint of South Carolina against the tariff^ 
!s, that it checks importations, and disables foreign powers from 
purchasing the agricultural productions of the United States. 
The effect of the resolution will be to increase importations, not 
so much, it is true, from Great Britain, as from other powers, but 
not the less acceptable on that account. It is a misfortune that 
so large a portion of our foreign commerce concentrates in one 
nation ; it subjects us too much to the legislation and the pohcy 
of that nation, and exposes us to the influence of her numerous 
agents, factors and merchants. And it is not among the small- 
est recommendations of the measure before the senate, that its 
tendency will be to expand our commerce with France, our great 
revolutionary ally— the land of our Lafayette. There is much 
greater probability also, of an enlargement of the present demand 
for cotton, in France, than in Great Britain. France engaged 
later in the manufacture of cotton, and has made, therefore, less 
progress. She has, moreover, no colonies producing the article 
in abundance, whose industry she might be tempted to encour- 
age. 

The honorable gentleman from Maryland, (Gen. Smith,) by 
his reply to a speech which, on the opening of the subject of this 
resolution, I had occasion to make, has rendered it necessary 
that I should take some notice of his observations. The honora- 
ble gentleman stated that he had been accused of partiality to 
the manufticturing interest. Never was there a more groundlesB 
and malicious charge preferred against a calumniated man. — 
Since this question has been agitated in the public councils, 
although I have often heard from him professions of attachment 
to this branch of industry, I have never known any member a 
more uniform, determined and uncompromising opponent of 
them, than the honorable senator has invariably been. And il^ 
hereafter, the calumny should be repeated, of his friendship to 
the American system, I shall be ready to furnish to him, in the 
most solemn manner, my testimony to his innocence. Tlie hon- 
orable gentleman supposed that I had advanced the idea that the 
permanent revenue of this country should be fixed at eighteen 
millions of dollars. Certainly 1 had no intention to announce 
such an opinion, nor do my expressions, fairly interpreted, imply 
it. I stated, on the occasion referred to, that, estimating the or- 
dinary revenue of the country at twenty-five millions, and the 
amount of the duties on the unprotected articles proposed to be 
repealed by the resolution, at seven millions, the latter sum taken 
from the former would leave eighteen. But I did not intimate 
any belief that the revenue of the country ought, for the future, 
to be permanently fixed at that or .any other precise sum. I sta- 
led that, after having effected so great a reduction, we might 
pause, cautiously survey the whole ground, and deliberately de- 
termine upon other measures of reduction, some of which I indi- 
cated. And I now say, preserve the protective system in full 
vigor ; give us the proceeds of the public domain for internal ira- 



202 IN DEFENCE OF 

provements, or if you please, partly for that object, and partly 
For the removal of the I'ree blacks, with their own consent, from 
the United States ; and for one, I have no objection to the reduc- 
tion of the public revenue to fifteen, to thirteen, or even to nine 
miUions of dollars. 

In regard to the scheme of the secretary of the treasury for 
paying off the whole of the remaining public debt, by the 
4th day of March, 1833, including the three per cent.., and 
for that purpose, selling the bank stock, I had remarked that, 
with the exception of the three per cent, there was not more 
than about four millions of dollars of the debt due and pay- 
able within this year, that, to meet this, tlie secretary had stated 
in his annual report, that the treasury would have, trom the re- 
ceipts of this year, fourteen millions of dollars, applicable to the 
principal of the debt; that 1 did not perceive any urgency for 
paying off the three percent, by the precise day suggested; and 
that there was no necessity, according to the plans oi' the treasury, 
assuming them to be expedient and proper, to postpone the re- 
peal of the duties on unprotected articles. The gentleman from 
Maryland imputed to me ignorance of the act of the 24th April, 
1830, according to which, in his opinion the secretary was ob- 
liged to purchase the three percent. On what ground the sena- 
tor supposed I was ignorant of that act he has not stated. Al- 
though when it passed I was at Ashland, I assure him that I was 
not there altogether uninformed of what was passing in the world. 
I regularly received the Register of my excellent Iriend (Mr. 
Niles,) published in Baltimore, the National Intelligencer, and 
otlier papers. There are two errors to which gentlemen are 
eometimes liable ; one is to magnify the amount of knowledge 
Avhich they possess themselves, and the second is to depreciate 
that which others have acquired. And will the gentleman 
from Maryland excuse me for thinking that no man is more prone 
to commit both errors tiian himself? I will not say that he is 
ignorant of the true meaning of the actoflSSO, but I certainly 
place a different construction upon it from what he does. It does 
not oblige the secretary of the treasury, or rather the commission- 
ers of the sinking fund, to apply the surplus of any year to the 
purchase of the three per cent, stock particularly, but leaves 
them at liberty " to apply such surplus to the purchase of any 

Eortion of the public debt, at such rates as, in their opinion may 
e advantageous to the United States." This vests a discre- 
tionary authority, to be exercised under official responsibility. 
And if any secretary of the the treasury, when he had the option 
of purchasing a portion of the debt, bearing a higher rate of in- 
terest at par or about par, were to execute the act by purchasing 
the three per cents., at its present price, he would merit impeach- 
ment. Undoubtedly a state of tact may exist, such as there 
being no public debt remaining to be paid, but the three per 
cent, stock, with a surplus in the treasury, idle and unproductive, 
in which it might be expedient to apply that surplus to the reim- 



I 



THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 203 

bursement of the three per cents. But whilst the interest of 
money is at a greater rate than three per cent., it would not, I 
think, be wise to produce an accumulation of public treasure for 
such a purpose. The postponement of any reduction of the 
amount of the revenue, at this session, must however give rise to 
that very accumulation ; and it is, therefore, that I cannot per- 
ceive the utility of the postponement. 

We are told by the gentleman from Maryland, that offers 
have been made to the secretary of the treasury to exchange 
three per cents., at their market price of 96 per cent, for the 
bank stock of the government at its market price, which is about 
126, and he thinks it would be wise to accept them. If the 
charter of the bank is renewed that stock will be probably worth 
much more than its present price ; if not renewed, much less. 
"Would it be iair in government, whilst the question is pending 
and undecided, to make such an exchange 7 The difference in 
value between a stock bearing three per cent., and one bearing 
seven per cent, must be really much greater than the difference 
between 96 and 126 per cent Supposing them to be perpetual 
annuities, the one would be worth more than twice the value of 
the other. But my objection to the treasury plan is, that it is not 
necessary to execute it — to continue these duties as the secretary 
proposes. The secretary has a debt of twenty-four millions to 
pay; he has from the accruing receipts of this year, fourteen 
millions, and we are now told by the senator from Maryland, 
that this sum of .fourteen millions is exclusive of any of the duties 
accruing this year. He proposes to raise eight millions by sale 
of the bank slock, and to anticipate, from the revenue receivable 
next year two millions more. These three items, then, of four- 
teen millions, eight millions, and two millions, makeup the sum 
required, of twenty-f bur millions, without the aid of the duties to 
which the resolution relates. 

The gentleman from Maryland insists that the general gov- 
ernment has been liberal toward the west in its appropriations 
of public lands for internal improvements; and, as to fortifica- 
tions, he contends that the expenditures near the mouth of the 
Mississippi, are for its especial benefit. The appropriations of 
land to the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama, have 
been liberal; but it is not to be overlooked, that the general gov- 
ernment is itself the greatest proprietor of land, and that a tend- 
ency of the improvements, which these appropriations were to 
effect is to increase the value of the unsold public domain. The 
erection of the fortifications lor the defence of Louisiana was 
highly proper ; but the gentleman might as well place to the ac- 
count of the west, the disbursements for the fortifications intended 
to defend Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, to all which 
capitals western produce is sent, and in the security of all of 
which, the western people feel a lively interest. They do not 
object to expenditures tor the army, for the navy, for fortifica- 
tions, or for any other defensive or commercial object on the 



204 IN DEFENCE OF 

Atlantic, but they do think that their condition ought also to receive 
friendly attention Irom the general government. With respect 
to the state of Kentucky not one cent of money, or one acre of 
land, has been applied to any object of internal improvement 
within her limits. The subscription to the stock of the canal at 
Louisville was lor an object in which many states were interest- 
ed. The senator from Maryland complains that he has been 
unable to obtain any aid for the rail road which the enterprise of 
Baltimore has projected, and, in part, executed. That was a 
great work, the conception of which was bold, and highly honor- 
able, imd it deserves national encouragement. But how has the 
committee of roads and canals, at this session been constituted'? 
The senator from Maryland possessed a brief authority to or- 
ganize it, and, if I am not misinlbrmed, a majority of the mem- 
bers composing it, appointed by him, are opposed both to the consti- 
tutionality of the power and the expediency of exercising it. 

And now, sir, I would address a few words to the iriends of the 
American system in the senate. The revenue must, ought to be 
reduced. The country will not, after, by the payment of the 
public debt, ten or twelve millions of dollars become unnecessary^ 
bear uuch an annual surplus. Its distribution would form a sub- 
ject of perpetual contention. Some of the opponents of the sy.c- 
tem understand the stratagem by which to attack it, and are 
shaping their course accordingly. It is to crush the system by 
the accumulation of revenue, and by the effort to persuade the 
people that they are unnecessarily taxed, whilst those would 
really tax them who would break up the native sources of sup- 
ply, and render them dependent upon the foreign. But the re- 
venue ought to be reduced, so as to accommodate it to the fact 
of the payment of the public debt. And the alternative is or 
may be, to preserve the protecting system, and repeal the duties 
on the unprotected articles, or to presen-e the duties on un- 
protected articles, and endanger if not destroy the system. 
Let us then adopt the measure before us, which will bene- 
fit all classes : the farmer, the professional man, the merchant, 
the manufacturer, the mechanic ; and the cotton ])lanter more 
than all. A few month? ago, there was no diversity of opinion 
as to the expediency of this measure. All, then, seemed to unite 
in the selection of these objects for a repeal of duties which were 
not produced within the country. Such a repeal did not touch 
our domestic industry, violated no principle, offended no preju- 
dice. 

Can we not all, whatever may be our favorite theories, cor- 
dially unite on this neutral ground ? When that is occupied, let 
us look beyond it, and see if any thing can be done, in the field 
of protection, to modify, to improve it, or to satisfy those who are 
opposed to the system. Our southern brethren believe that it is 
injurious to tjiem, and ask its repeal. We believe that its aban- 
donment will be prejudicial to them, and ruinous to every other 
•ection of the Union. However strong their convictions may be, 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 205 

they are not stronger than ours. Between the points of the pre- 
serv^ation of the system and its absolute repeal, there is no prin- 
ciple of union. If it can be shown to operate immoderately on 
any quarter, if the measure of protection to any article can be 
demonstrated to be undue and inordinate, it would be the duty 
of Congress to interpose and apply a remedy. And none wiL 
co-operate more heartily than I shall, in the performance of that 
dutj-. It is quite probable that beneficial modifications of the 
system may be made without impairing its efficacy. But to 
make it fulfil the purposes of its institution, the measure of pro- 
tection ought to be adequate. If it be not, all interests will be 
injuriously affected. The manufacturer, cripled in his exertions, 
will produce less perfect and dearer fabrics, and the consumer 
will feel the consequence. This is the spirit and these are the 
principles only, on which, it seems to me, that a settlement of 
this great question can be made, satisfactorily to all parts of our 
Union. 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 

Speech on the Pi-esidenfs Veto of the Bank Bill., July 12, 1832. 

Mr. Clay said he had some observations to submit on this 
question, which he would not trespass on the Senate in offering, 
but that it had some command of leisure, in consequence of the 
conference which had been agreed upon in respect to the tariff. 

A bill to recharter the bank has recently passed Congress, 
after much deliberation. In this body, we know that there are 
members enough wdio entertain no constitutional scruples, to 
make, with the vote by which the bill was passed, a majority of 
two-thirds. In tlie House of Representatives also, it is believed, 
there is a like majority in favor of the bill. Notwithstanding 
tliis state of things, the President has rejected the bill, and trans- 
mitted to the Senate an elaborate message, communicating at 
large his objections. The constitution requires that we should 
reconsider the bill, and that the question of its passage, the 
President's objections notwithstanding, shall be taken by ayes 
and noes. Respect to him, as well as the injunctions of the 
constitution, require that we should deliberately examine his 
reasons, and reconsider the question. 

The veto is an extraordinary power, which, though tolerated 
by the constitution, was not expected, by the convention, to be 
used in ordinary cases. It was designed for instances of pre- 
cipitate legislation, in unguarded moments. Thus restricted, 
and it had been thus restricted by all former Presidents, it might 
not be mischievous. During Mr. Madison's administration of 
18 



206 ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 

eight years, there had occurred but two or three cases of its 
exercise. During the last administration, I do not now recollect 
that it was once. In a period little upwards of three years, the 
present Chief Magistrate has employed the veto four times. We 
now hear quite frequently, in the progress of measures through 
Congress, the statement that the President will veto them, urged 
as an objection to their passage. 

The veto is hardly reconcileaWe with the genius of repre- 
sentative government. It is totally irreconcileable with it, if it 
is to be frequently employed in respect to the expediency of 
measures, as well as their constitutionality. It is a feature oi" our 
government borrowed from a prerogative of the British king. 
And it is remarkable that in England it has grown obsolete, not 
having been used for upwards of a century. At the commence- 
ment of the French revolution, in discussing the principles of 
their constitution, in national convention, the veto held a con- 
spicuous figure. The gay, laughing population of Paris bestow- 
ed on the King the appellation of Monsieur Veto, and on the 
queen, that of Madame Veto. The convention finally decreed, 
that if a measure rejected by the king should obtain the sanction 
of two concurring legislatures, it should be a law, notwithstand- 
ing the veto. In the constitution of Kentucky, and perhaps in 
some other of the State constitutions, it is provided that if, after 
the rejection of a bill by the Governor, it shall be passed by a 
majority of all the members elected to hoih houses, it shall "be- 
come a law, notwithstanding the Governor's objections. As a 
co-ordinate branch of the government, the Chief Magistrate has 
great v/eight. If, after a respectful consideration of his objec 
tions urged against a bill, a majority of all the memlicrs elected 
to the Legislature shall still pass it, notwithstanding his ofllcial 
influence and the force of his reasons, ought it not to become a 
law? Ought the opinion of one man to overrule that oi' a legis- 
lative body twice deliberately expres.sed? 

It cannot be imagined that the convention contemplated the 
application of the veto to a question Ayhich has been so long, so 
often, and so thoroughly scrutinized, as that of the bank of the 
United States, by every department of the govci'nmcnt, in al- 
most every stage of its existence, and by the people, and by the 
State Legislatures. Of all the controverted questions which 
have sprung up under our government, not, one has been so fully 
investigated as that of its power to establish a bank of the United 
States. More than seventeen years ago, in January. 1S15, Mr. 
]\Iadison then said, in a message to the Senate of i]\e United 
States: '-Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of 
the Legislature to establish an incorporated baulc, as being pre- 
cluded^ ill my judgment^ by repealed 7-ccognitiovt}, binder varied 
circvmslances^' of llie validity of such an instiliitinn, in acts of the 
legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government, 
accompanied by indications, in different modes, of a co?icnrrence 
of the general will of the nation.''^ Mr. Madison, himself op- 



/ 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 207 

posed to the first banl{ of the United States, yielded his own 
convictions to those of the nation, and all tJie departments of the 
government thus ol'ten expressed. Subsequent to tliis true but 
strong statement of the case, the present bank of the United 
States was established, and numerous other acts, of all the de- 
partments of government, manifesting their settled sense of the 
power, have been added to those which existed prior to the date 
of Mr. Madison's message. 

No question has been more generally discussed, within the 
last two years, by the people at large, and in State Legislatures, 
than that of the bank. And this consideration of it lias been 
prompted by the President himself. In his first message to Con- 
gress, (in December, 1829,) he brought the subject to the view 
of that body and the nation, and expressly declared, that it 
could not, for the interest of all concerned, be "too soon" settled. 
In each of iiis subsequent annual messages, in 1830 and 1831, 
he again invited the attention of Congress to the subject. Thus, 
after an interval of two years, and after the intervention of the 
election of a new Congress, the President deliberately renews 
his recommeiidation to consider the question of the renewal of 
tlie charter of the bank of the United States. And yet his friends 
now declare the agitation of the question to be premature! It 
was not premature in 1829 to present the question, but it is pre- 
mature in 1S32 to consider and decide it! 

After the President had directed public attention to this ques- 
tion, it became not only a topic of popular conversation, but 
was discussed in the press, and employed as a theme in popular 
elections. I was mj'^self interrogated, on more occasions than 
one, to make a public expression of my sentiments; and a friend 
of mine in Kentucky, a candidate for the State Legislature, told 
me near two years ago, that he was surprised, in an obscure 
part of his county, (the hills of Benson,) where there was but 
little occasion tor banks, to find himself questioned on the stump 
as to the recharter of the bank of the United States. It seemed 
as if a sort of general order had gone out, from head-quarters, 
to the partizans of the administration every Avhere, to agitate 
and make the most of the question. Th^y have done so: and 
their condition now reminds me of the lable invented by Dr. 
Franklin of the eaule and the cat, to demonstrate that ^Esop 
had not exhausted invention, in the construction of his memorable 
fables. The eagle, you know, Mr. President, pounced from his 
lofty flight in the air upon a cat, taking it to be a pig. Having 
borne off liis prize, he quickly felt most painfully the paws of 
the cat thrust deeply into his sides and body. Whilst flying, he 
held a parley with the supposed pig, and proposed to let go his 
hold, if the other would let him alone. No, says puss, you 
brought me from yonder earth below, and I will hold fast to you 
until you carry me back — a condition to which the eagle readily 
assented. 

The friends of the President, who have been for near three 



208 ON TPIE UNITED STATES BANK VETO, 

years agitating lliis question, now torn round vipon their oppo- 
nents, who have supposed the President quite serious and in 
earnest in presenting it for pubHc consideration, and charge 
them with prematurely agitating it. And that lor electioneering 
purposes ! Tlie otlier side understands perfectly the policy of 
preferring an unjust charge in order to avoid a well founded 
accusation. 

If there be an electioneering motive in the matter, who have 
been actuated by it? Those who have taken the President at 
his word, and deliberated on a measure which he has repeatedly 
recommended to their consideration; or those who have resorted 
to all sorts of means to elude the question? By alternately 
coaxing and threatening the bank ; by an extraordinary investi- 
gation into the administration of the bank; and by every species 
of postponement and procrastination, during the progress of the 
bill. 

Notwithstanding all these dilatory expedients, a majority of 
Congress, prompted by the will and the best interests of the 
nation, passed the bill. And I shall now proceed, with great 
respect and deference, to examine some of the objections to its 
becoming a law, contained in the President's message, avoiding, 
as much as I can, a repetition of what gentlemen have said who 
preceded me. 

The President thinks that the precedents, drawn from the 
proceedings of Congress, as to the constitutional power to es- 
tablish a bank, are neutralized, by there being two tor and two 
against the authority. He supposes that one Congress in 1811, 
and another in 1813, decided against the power. Let us exa- 
mine both of these cases. The House of Representatives in 
1811, passed the bill to re-charter the bank, and, consequently 
aiRrmed the power. The senate during the same year Avere di- 
vided, 17 and 17, and the Vice-President gave the casting vote. 
Of the 17 who voted against the bank, we know from the de- 
claration of the senator from Maryland, (General Smith,) now 
present, that he entertained no doubt whatever of the constitu- 
tional power of Congress to establish a bank, and that lie voted 
on totally distinct ground. Taking away his vote and adding 
it to the 17 who voted for the bank, the number would have 
stood 18 for, and 16 against the power. But we know fur- 
ther, that Mr. Gaillard, Mr. Anderson and Mr. Robinson, made 
a part of that 16; and that in 1815, all three of them voted for 
the bank. Take those three votes from the 16, and add them 
to the 18, and the vote of 1811, as to the question of constitu- 
tional power, would have been 21 and 13. And of these thir- 
teen there might have been others still who were not governed 
in their votes by any doubts of the power. 

In regard to the Congress of 1815, so far from their having 
entertained any scruples in respect to the power to establish a 
bank, they actually passed a bank bill, and thereby affirmed the 
power. It is true tliat, by the casting vote of the speaker of the 



/ 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 209 

House of Representatives, (Mr. Cheves,) they rejected another 
bank hill, not on grounds of want of power^ but upon considera- 
tions of expediency in the particular structure of that bank. 

Both the adverse precedents therefore, relied upon in the 
message, operate directly against the argument which they 
were brought tbrward to maintain. Congress, by various other 
acts, in relation to the bank of the United States, has again and 
again sanctioned the power. And I believe it may be truly 
affirmed that from the commencement of the government to this 
day, there has not been a Congress opposed to the bank of the 
United States ujion the distinct ground of a want of power to 
establish it. 

And here, Mr. President, I must request the indulgence of 
the senate, whilst I express a kw words in relation to myself. 

I voted, in 1811, against the old bank of the United States, 
and I delivered On the occasion, a speech, in which, among other 
reasons, I assigned that of its being unconstitutional. My 
speech lias been read to the senate, during the progress of this 
bill, but the reading of it excited no other regret than that it was 
read in such a wretched, bungling, mangling manner.* During 
a long public life, (I mention the fact, not as claiming any merit 
for it,) the only great question in Avhich I have ever changed my 
opinion, is that of the bank of the United States. If the re- 
searches of the senator had carried him a little further, he would, 
by turning over a few more leaves of the same book from which 
he read my speech, have found that which I made in 1816, 
in support of the present bank. By the reasons assigned in it 
for the change of my opinion, I am ready to abide in the judg- 
ment of the present generation and of posterity. In 1816, being 
speaker of the House of Representatives, it was perfectly in my 
power to have said nothing and done nothing, and thus have con- 
cealed the change of opinion which my mind had undergone. 
But I did not choose to remain silent and escape responsibil- 
ity. I chose publicly to avow my actual conversion. The war, 
and the fatal experience of its disastrous events, had changed 
me. Mr. Madison, Governor Pleasants, and almost all the pub- 
lic men around me, my political friends, had changed their 
opinions from the same causes. 

The power to establish a bank is deduced tram that clause of 
the constitution which confers on Congress all powers neces- 
sary and proper to carry into effect the enumerated povrers. In 
1811, I believed a bank of the United States not necessary, and 
that a safe reliance might be placed on the local banks, in the 
administration of the fiscal aiiairs of the government. The war 
taught us many lessons, and among others demonstrated the 
necessity of a bank of the United States, to the successful oper- 
ations of the government. I will not trouble the senate with a 

* It ia understood to have been read by Mr. Hill. 

18* 



210 ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 

perusal of my speech in 1816, but ask its permission to read a 
few extracts : 

"But how stood the case in 1816, when he was called upon 
again to examine the powers of the general government to 
incorporate a national bank? A total change of circumstances 
AS'as presented — events of the utmost magnitude had intervened. 

'• A general suspension of specie payments had taken place, 
and this had led to a train of circumstances of the most alarm- 
ing nature. He beheld, dispersed over the immense extent of 
the United States, about three hundred banking institutions, 
enjoying, in diflorent degrees, the confidence of the public, 
shaken as to them a!!, under no direct control of the general 
government, and subject to no actual responsibility to the state 
authorities. These institutions were emitting the actual cur- 
rency of tli8 United States — a currency consisting of paper, on 
which they neither paid interest nor principal, wliilst it was ex- 
changed for the paper of the connnunity, on which both were 
paid. We saw these institutions in foct, exercising what had 
been considered, at all times, and in all countries, one of the 
highest attributes of sovereignty — the regulation of the current 
medium of the country. They were no longer competent to 
assist the treasury, in either of the great operations of collection, 
deposite, or distribution of the pubhc revenues. In fact, the 
paper wliich they emitted, and which the treasury, from tlie 
force of events, found itself constrained to receive, was constant- 
ly obstructing the operations of tliat department; for it would 
accumulate where it was not wanted, and could not be used 
where it was wanted, for the purposes of government, with- 
out a ruinou;5 and arbitrary brokerage. Every man who paid 
to or received from the government, paid or received as much 
less than he ought to have done, as was the difference between 
the medium in which the payment was effected and specie. 
■Taxes were no longer uniform. In New England, where specie 
payments had not been suspended, the people were called upon 
to pay larger contributions than where they were suspended. 
In Kentucky as much more was paid by the people, in tlieir 
taxes, than was paid, ibr example, in the state of Ohio, as Ken- 
tucky paper was worth more than Ohio paper. * * * 

"Considering, then, that the state of the currency was such 
• that no thinking man could contemplate it without the most se- 
rious alarm ; tliat it tlireatened general distress, if it did not 
ultimately lead to convulsion and subversion of the government 
— it appeared to him to be the duty of Congress to apply a re- 
medy, if a remedy could be devised. A national bank, with 
other auxiliary measures was proposed as that remedy. Mr. 
Clay said he determined to examine the question with as little 
prejudice as possible, arising from his former opinion; he knew 
tliat the safest course to him, if he pursued a cold calculating 
prudence, was to adhere to that opinion right or wrong. He 
was perfectly av/are that if he changed, or seemed to change it, 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 211 

he should expose himself to some censure ; but, looking at the 
subject with the light shed upon it, by events happening since 
the commencement of the war, he could no longer doubt. * 

* * He preferred to the suggestions of the pride of consist- 
ency, the evident interests of the community, and determined to 
throw himself upon their justice and candor." 

The interest which foreigners liold in the existing bank of the 
United States, is dwelt upon in the message as a serious objec- 
tion to the re-charter. But this interest is the result of the as- 
signable nature of the stock; and if tlie objection be well found- 
ed, it applies to government stock, to the stock in local banks, in 
canal and other companies, created for internal improvements, 
and every species of money or moveables in which foreigners 
may acquire an interest. The assignable character of the 
stock is a quality conferred, not for the benefit of foreigners, but 
for that of our own citizens. And the fact of its being transfer- 
red to them is the effect of the balance of trade being against us 
— an evil, if it be one, whicli tlie American system will correct. 
All governments Avanting capital resort to foreign nations pos- 
sessing it in superabundance, to obtain it. Sometimes tiie re- 
sort is even made by one to another belligerent nation. During 
our revolutionary war we obtained foreign capital, (Dutcli and 
French) to aid us. During the late v/ar Amei-ican stock was 
sent to Europe to sell ; and, if I am not misinformed, to Liver- 
pool. The question does not depend upon the place whence (he 
capital is obtained, but the advantageous use of it. The confi- 
dence of foreigners in our stocks is a proof of the solidity of our 
credit. Foreigners have no voice in the administration of this 
bank ; and if tliey buy its stock, they are obliged to sitbmit to 
citizens of the United States to manage it. The senator from 
Tennessee, (Mr. White,) asks what would have been the con- 
dition of this country, if; during the late war, this bank had ex- 
isted, v/ith such an interest in it as foreigners now hold ? I will 
tell him. We should have avoided manj^ of tlie disasters of that 
war, perhaps those of Detroit and at this place. The govern- 
ment would have possessed ample means for its vigorous prose- 
cution ; and the interest of ibreigncrs — British subjects especially, 
would liave operated upon them, not upon us. Will it not be a 
serious evil to be obliged to remit in specie to foreigners the 
eight millions which they now have in this bank, instead of re- 
taining that capital within the country to stimulate its industry 
and enterprize? 

The President assigns in his message a conspicuous place to 
the alledged injurious operation of the bank on the interests of 
the western people. Tliey ought to be much indebted to Jiim 
for his kindness manifested towards tJicm ; although, I think, they 
have much reason to deprecate it. Tlie people of all the west 
owe to tins bank about thirty millions, which have been borrow- 
ed from it; and the President thinks that the payments for the 
interest, and other facilities which they derive from the opera.- 



212 ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 

tions of this bank, are so onerous as to produce " a dram of their 
currency, which no country can bear withovit inconvenience and 
occasional distress." His remedy is to compel them to pay the 
whole of the debt which they Jiave contracted in a period short 
of four years. Now, Mr. President, if they cannot pay the inte- 
rest without distress, how are they to pay the principal ? If they 
cannot pay a part, how are they to pay the whole ? Whether 
the payment of the interest be or be not a burthen to them, is a 
question for themselves to decide, respecting which they might 
be disposed to dispense with the kindness of the President. If 
instead of borrowing thirty millions from the bank, they had bor- 
rowed a like sum from a Girard, John Jacob Astor, or any other 
banker, what would they think of one who should come to them 
and say — "gentlemen of the west, it will ruin you to pay the in- 
terest on that debt, and therelore I will oblige you to pay the 
whole of the principfil in less than four years." Would they not 
reply — "we know what we are about; mind your own business; 
we are satisfied that in ours we can make not only the interest on 
what we loan, but a lair profit besides." 

A great mistake exists about the western operation of the bank. 
It is not the bank, but the business, the commerce of the west, 
and the operations of government, that occasions the transfer, 
annually, of money from the west to the Atlantic states. What 
is the actual course of things ? The business and commerce of 
the west are carried on with New-Orleans, with the southern and 
southwestern states, and with the Atlantic cities. We transport 
our dead or inanimate produce to New-Orleans, and receive in 
return checks or drafts of the bank of tlie United States at a pre- 
mium of a half per cent. We send, by our drovers, our live stock 
to the south and southwest, and receive similar checks in return. 
With these drafts or checks our merchants proceed to the Atlan- 
tic cities, and purchase domestic or foreign goods for western 
consumption. The lead and fur trade of Missouri and Illinois is 
also carried on principally through the agency of the bank of the 
United States. The government also transfers to places where 
it is wanted, through that bank, the .sums accumulated at the dif- 
ferent land oflices tor purchases of the public lands. 

Now all these varied operations must go on — all these remit- 
tances must be made, bank of the United States, or no bank. — 
The bank does not create, but it facilitates thetn. The bank is a 
mere vehicle ; just as much so as the steamboat is the vehicle 
which transports our produce to the great mart of New-Orleans, 
and not the grower of that produce. It is to confound cause and 
effect, to attribute to the banli the transfer of money from the 
west to the east. Annihilate tlie bank to-morrow, and similar 
transfers of capital, the same description of pecuniary operations, 
must be continued ; not so well, it is true, but performed they 
must be, ill or well, under any state of circumstances. 

The true questions are, how are they now performed, how 
were they conducted prior to the existence of the bank, how 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 213 

would they be after it ceased ? I can tell you what was our con- 
dition belbre the bank was established ; and, as I reason from 
past to future experience, under analogous circumstances, I can 
venture to predict what it will probably be without the bank. 

Before the establishment of the bank of the United States, the 
exchange business of the west was carried on by a premium, 
which was generally paid on all remittances to the east of 2k 
per cent. The aggregate amount of all remittances, throughout 
the whole circle of the year, was very great, and instead of the 
sum then paid, we now pay half per cent., or nothing, if notes of 
the bank of the United States be used. Prior to the bank, we 
were without the capital of the thirty millions which that institu- 
tion now supplies, stimulating our industry and invigorating our 
enterprise. In Kentucky we have no specie paying bank, scarce- 
ly any currency other than that of paper of the bank of the Uni- 
ted States and its branches. 

How is the west to pay this enormous debt of thirty millions 
of dollars ? It is impossible. It cannot be done. General dis- 
tress, certain, wide-spread, inevitable ruin must be the conse- 
quences of an attempt to enforce the payment. Depression in 
the value of all property, sheriff's sales and sacrifices — bankrupt- 
cy, must necessarily ensue; and, with them, relief laws, paper 
money, a prostration of the courts of justice, evils from which we 
have just emerged, must again, with all their train of afflictions, 
revisit our country. But it is argued by the gentleman from Ten- 
nessee (Mr. White) that similar predictions vv^ere made, without 
being realized, from the downfall of the old bank of the United 
States. It is, however, to be recollected, that the old bank did 
not possess one-third of the capital of the present : that it had but 
one office west of the mountains, whilst the present has nine ; and 
that it had little or no debt due to it in that quarter, whilst the 
present bank has thirty millions. The war, too, which shortly 
followed the downfall of the old bank, and the suspension of spe- 
cie payments, which soon followed the war, prevented the injury 
apprehended from the discontinuance of the old bank. 

The same gentleman further argues that the day of payment 
must come ; and he asks Avhen, better than now? Is it to be in- 
definitely postponed; is the charter of the present bank to be per- 
petual? Whj', Mr. President, all things — governments, repub- 
lics, empires, laws, human life — doubtless are to have an end ; 
but shall we therefore accelerate their termination ? The west 
is now young, wants capital, and its vast resources, needing 
nourishnient, are daily developing. By and. by, it will accumu- 
late wealth from its industry and enterprise, and possess its sur- 
plus capital. The charter is not made perpetual, because it is 
wrong to bind posterity perpetually. At the end of the term lim- 
ited lor its renewal, posterity will have the power of determining 
for itself whether the bank shall then be wound up, or prolonged 
another term. And that question may be decided, as it now 
ought to be, by a consideration of the interests of all parts of the 



214 ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 

Union, the west among the rest. Sufficient for the day is the 
evil thereof. 

The President tells us that, if the executive had been called 
upon to furnish the project of a bank, the duty would have been 
cheerfully perlbrmed ; and he states that a bank, competent to all 
the duties which may be required by the government, might be 
so organized as not to infringe on our own delegated powers, or 
the reserved rights of the states. The President is a co-ordinats 
branch of the legislative department. As such, bills which have 
passed both houses of Congress, are presented to him for his ap- 
proval or rejection. The idea of going to the President for the 
project of a law, is totally new in the practice, and utterly con- 
trary to the theory of the government. What should we think 
of the senate calling upon the house, or the house upon the sen- 
?Vte, for the project of a law? 

In France, the king possessed the initiative of all laws, and 
none could pass without its having been previously presented to 
one of the chambers by the crown, through the ministers. Does 
the President wish to introduce the initiative here? Are the 
powers of recommendation, and that of veto, not sufficient? 
Must all legislation, in its commencement and in its termination, 
concentrate in the President? When we shall have reached that 
state of things, the election and annual sessions of Congress will 
be an useless charge upon the people, and the whole business of 
government may be economically conducted by ukases and de- 
crees. 

Congress does sometimes receive the suggestions and opiniona 
of the heads of department, as to new laws. And, at the com- 
mencement of this session, in his annual report, the Secretary of 
the Treasury stated his reasons at large, not merely in favor of 
a bank, but in support of the renewal of the charter of the exist- 
ing bank. Who could have believed that that responsible officer 
was communicating to Congress opinions directly adverse to 
those entertained by the President himself? When before has 
it happened, that the head of a department recommended the 
passage of a law which, being accordingly passed and presented 
to the President, is subjected to his veto ? What sort of a bank 
it is, with a project of which the President would have deigned 
to furnish Congress, if they had applied to him, he has not sta- 
ted. In the absence of such statement, we can only conjecture 
that it is his famous treasury bank, formerly recommended by 
him, from which the people have recoiled with the instinctive 
horror excited by the approach of the cholera. 

The message states, that '' an investigation wnoillingly conce- 
ded, and so vestHcled in time as necessarily to make it incomplete 
and unsalisfactory . discloses enough to excite suspicion and 
alarm." As there is no prospect of the passage of this bill, the 
President's objections notwithstanding, by a constitutional ma- 
jority of two-thirds, it can never reach the house of representa- 
tives. Tlic members of that house, and especially its distinguish- 



/ 



ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 215 

ed chairman of the committee of ways and means, who reported 
the bill, are therefore cut off from all opi)ortunity of defending 
themselves. Under these circumstances, allow mo to ask how 
the President has ascertained that the investigation was umcil- 
linghj conceded? I have understood directly the contrary; and 
that the chairman, already referred to. as well as other members 
in favor of the renewal of the charter, promptly consented to and 
voted for the investigation. And we all know that those in sup- 
port of the renewal could have prevented the investigation, and 
that they did not. But suspicion and alarm have been excited ! 
Suspicion and alarm ! Against whom is this suspicion? The 
house, or the bank, or both ? 

Mr. President, I protest against the right of any Chief Magis- 
trate to come into either house of Congress, and scrutinize the 
motives of its members ; to examine whether a measure has been 
passed with promptitude or repugnance ; and to pronounce upon 
the willingness or unwillingness with which it has been adopted 
or rejected. It is an interference in concerns which partake of a 
domestic nature. The official and constitutional relations be- 
tween the President and the two houses of Congress subsist witli 
them as organized bodies. His action is confined to their con- 
summated proceedings, and does not extend to measures in their 
incipient stages, during their progress through the houses, nor to 
the motives by which they are actuated. 

There are some parts of this message that ought to excite deep 
alarm ; and that especially in which the President announces that 
each public officer may interpret the constitution as he pleases. 
His language is: "Each public officer, who takes an oath to sup- 
port the constitution, swears that he vrill support it as lie under- 
stands it, and not as it is understood by others." * * * " The 
opinion of the judges has no more authprity over Congress than 
l!ie opinion of Congress has over the judges; and, on that poi7it, 
the President is independent- of hath.'''' Now, Mr. President, I 
conceive Avith great deference, that the President has mistaken 
the purport of the oath to support the constitution of the United 
States. No one swears to support it as he undei'stayids it, but to 
support it simply as it is in truth. All men are bound to obey 
the laws, of which the constitution is the supreme; but must they 
obey them as they are, or as they understand them? If the obli- 
gation of obedience is limited and controlled by the measure of 
information ; in other words, if the party is bound to obey the 
constitution only as he understands it, what would be the conse- 
quence ? The judge of an inferior court would disobey the man- 
date of a superior tribunal, because it was not in conformity to 
the constitution, as he understands it ; a custom house officer 
would disobey a circular from the treasury department, because 
contrary to the constitution, as he understands it ; an American 
minister would disregard an instruction from the President, com- 
municated through the department of state, because not agreea- 
ble to the constitution, as he understands it ; and a subordinate 



216 ON THE UNITED STATES BANK VETO. 

officer in the army or navy would violate the orders of his supe- 
rior, because they were not in accordance with the constitution, 
as he understands it. We should have nothing settled, nothing 
stable, nothing fixed. There would be general disorder and 
contusion throughout every branch of administration, from the 
highest to the lowest olficers — universal nullification. For what 
is the doctrine of the President but that of South Carolina ap- 
plied throughout the Union? The President independent both 
of Congress and the Supreme Court! Only bound to execute 
the laws of tlic one and the decisions of tlie other as far as they 
conform to the constitution of the United States, as he widcrstands 
it ! Then it should be the duty of every President, on his instal- 
lation into office, to carefully examine all the acts in the statute 
book, approved by his predecessors, and mark cut those which 
he was resolved not to execute, and to which he meant to apply 
this new species of veto, because they were repugnant to the 
constitution, as he understands it. And, after the expiration of 
every term of the Supreme Court, he should send for the record 
of its decisions, and discriminate between those which he would, 
and those which he would not, execute, because they were or 
were not agreeable to the constitution, as he understands it. 

There is another constitutional doctrine contained in the mes- 
sage, which is entirely new to me. It asserts that "the govern- 
ment of the United States have no consitutional power to pur- 
chase lands within the States," except "for the erection of forts, 
magazines, arsenals, doclvyards, and other needful buildings;" 
and, even for these objects, only "by the consent of the Legisla- 
ture of the State in which the same shall be." Now, sir, I had 
supposed that the right of Congress to purchase lands in any 
State was incontestible: and, in point of fact, it probably at this 
moment owns land in every State of the Union, purchased for 
taxes, or as a judgment or mortgage creditor. And there are 
various acts of Congress which regulate the purchase and trans- 
fer of such lands. The advisers of the President have con- 
founded the faculty of purchasing lands with the exercise of 
exclusive jurisdiction, which is restricted by the constitution to 
the Ibrts and other buildings described. 

The message presents some striking instances of discrepancy. 
1st. It contests the right to establish one bank, and objects to 
the bill that it limits and restrains the power of Congress to 
establish several. 2d. It urges that the bill does not recognize 
tlie power of State taxation generally; and complains that facili- 
ties are atforded to the exercise of that power, in respect to the 
stock held by individuals. 3d. It objects that any bonus is taken, 
and insists that not enough is demanded. And 4th. It complains 
that foreigners have too much influence, and that stock trans- 
ferred loses the privilege of representation in the elections of the 
bank, which, if it were retained, would give them more. 

Mr. President, we are about to close one of the longest and 
most arduous sessions of Congress under the present constitu- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 217 

tion; and, when we return among our constituents, what ac- 
count of the operations of their government shall we be bound 
to communicate? We shall be compelled to say, that the Su- 
preme Court is paralyzed, and the missionaries retained in 
prison in contempt of its authority, and in defiance of numerous 
treaties and laws of the United States; that the executive, 
through the Secretary of the Treasury, sent to Congress a 
tariff bill which would have destroyed numerous branches of our 
domestic industry, and to the final destruction of all; that the 
veto has been apphed to the bank of the United States, our only 
reliance for a sound and uniform currency; that the Senate has 
been violently attacked for the exercise of a clear constitutional 
power ; that the House of Representatives has been unnecessa- 
rily assailed; and that tlie President has promulgated a rule ol 
action for those who have taken the oath to support the consti- 
tution of the United States, that must, if there be practical con- 
formity to it, introduce general nullification, and end in the abso- 
lute subversion of the government. 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

The subject before the Senate being the bill to appropriate, 
for a limited time, the proceeds of the public lands of the United 
States — 

Mr. Clay rose and said, that in rising to address the Senate, 
he owed, in the first place, the expression of his hearty thanks 
to the majority, by whose vote, just given, he was indulged in 
occupying the floor on this most important question. He was 
happy to see that the days when the sedition acts and gag laws 
were in force, and when screws were applied for the suppression 
of the freedom of speech and debate, were not yet to returr- ; 
and that, when the consideration of a great question had been 
specially assigned to a particular day, it was not allowed to be 
arrested and thrust aside by any unexpected and unprecedented 
parhamentary manoeuvre. The decision of tlie majority demon- 
strated that feelings of liberality and courtesy and kindness stil! 
prevailed in the Senate ; and that they would be extended even 
to one of the humblest members of the body; for such, he assured 
the Senate, he felt himself to be.* 

* This subject had been set down for this day. It was generally expected, in 
and out of the Senate, that it would be taken up, and that Mr. Clay would address 
the Senate. The members were generally in their seats, and the gallery and lobbies 
crowded. At the customary hour, he moved that the sulDject pending should be laid 
on the table, to take up the land bill. It was ordered accordingly. At this point 
of time Mr. Forsyth made a motion, supported by Mr. Tazewell, that the Senate 
proceed to executive business. The motion was overruled. 

19 



218 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

It may not be amiss again to allude to the extraordinary refe- 
rence of the subject of the pubhc lands to the committee of 
manufactures. I have nothing, (said Mr. Clay.) to do with tlie 
motives of honorable Senators who composed the majority by 
which that reference was ordered. The decorum proper in this 
hall obliges me to consider their motives to have been pure and 
patriotic. But still I must be permitted to regard the proceeding 
as very unusual. The Senate has a standing committee on the 
public lands, appointed under long established rules. The mem- 
bers of that committee are presumed to be well acquainted with 
the subject; they have some of them occupied the same station 
for many years, are well versed in the whole legislation on the 
public lands, and familiar with every branch of it — and four out 
of five of them come from the new States. Yet, with a lull 
luiowledge of all these circumstances, a reference was ordered 
by a majority of the Senate to the committee on manufactures — 
a committee than which there was not another standing com- 
mittee of the Senate whose prescribed duties were more incon- 
gruous with the public domain. It happened, in the constitution 
of the committee of manufactures, that there was not a solitary 
Senator from the new States, and but one from any western 
State. We had earnestly protested against the reference, and 
insisted upon its impropriety; but we were overruled by the 
majority, including a majority of Senators from the new States. 
I will not attempt <an expression of the feelings excited in my 
mind on that occasion. Whatever may have been the intention 
of honorable Senators, I could not be insensible to the embar- 
rassment in which the committee of manufactures was placed, 
and especially myself Although any other member of that 
committee would have rendered himself, with appropriate re- 
searches and proper time, more competent than I was to under- 
stand the subject of the public lands, it was known that, from 
my local position, I alone was supposed to have any particular 
knowledge of them. Whatever emanated from the committee 
was likely, therefore, to be ascribed to me. If the committee 
should propose a measure of great liberality towards the new 
States, the old States might complain. If the measure should 
seem to lean towards the old States, the new might be dissatis- 
fied. And, if it inclined to neither class of States, but recom- 
mended a plan according to which there would be distributed 
impartial justice among all the States, it was far from certain 
tliat any would be pleased. 

Without venturing to attribute to honorable Senators the pur- 
pose of producing this personal embarrassment, I felt it, as a 
necessary consepuence of their act, just as much as if it had 
been in tlieir contemplation. Nevertheless, the committee ol' 
manufactures cheerfully entered upon the duty which, against 
jtfi will, was thus assigned to it by the Senate. And, for the 
causes already noticed, that of preparing a report and suggest- 
ing some measure embracing the whole subject, devolved in th« 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 219 

committee upon me. The general features of our land Bystem 
were strongly impressed on my memory; but I ibund it neces- 
sary to re-examine some of the treaties, deeds of cession and 
laws which related to tlie acquisition and administratin of the 
public lands; and then to think of, and, if possible, strike out 
some project, which, without inflicting injury upon any of the 
States, might deal equally and justly with all of them. The 
report and bill, submitted to the Senate, after having been pre- 
viously sanctioned by a majority of the committee, were the 
results of this consideration. The report, with the exception 
of the principle of distribution which concludes it, obtained the 
unanimous concurrence of the committee of manufactures. 

This report and bill were hardly read in the Senate before 
they were violently denounced. And they were not considered 
by the Senate before a proposition was made to refer the report 
to that very committee of Ihe public lands to which, in the first 
instance, I contended the subject ought to have been assigned. 
It was in vain that we remonstrated against such a proceeding, 
as unprecedented, as implying unmerited censure on the com- 
mittee of manulactures, and as leading to interminable referen- 
ces; for what more reason could there be to refer the report of 
the committee of manufactures to the land committee, than 
would exist lor a subsequent reference of the report of this com- 
mittee, when made, to some third committee, and so on in an 
endless circle ? In spite of all our remonstrances, the same ma- 
jority, with but little if any variation, which had originally re- 
solved to refer the subject to the committee of manufactures, 
now determined to commit its bill to the land committee. And 
this not only without particular examination into the merits of 
that bill, but without the avowal of any specific amendment 
which was deemed necessary ! The committee of public lands, 
after the lapse of some days, presented a report, and recom- 
mended a reduction of the price of the public lands immediately, 
to one dollar per acre, and eventually to 50 cents per acre ; and 
the grant to the new states of fifteen per cent, on the nett pro- 
ceeds of the sales, instead of ten, as proposed by the committee of 
manuflictures, and nothing to the old states. 

And now, Mr. President, I desire, at this time, to make a few 
observations in illustralion of the original report; to supply some 
omissions in its compositon ; to say something as to the power 
and rights of the general government over the public domain; 
to submit a kw remarks on the counter report ; and to examine 
the assumptions which it contained, and the principles on which 
it is founded. 

No subject which had presented itself to the present, or per- 
haps any preceding Congress, was of greater magnitude than 
that of the public lands. There was another, indeed, which 
possessed a more exciting and absorbing interest — but the ex- 
citement was happily but temporary in its nature. Long after 
we shall cease to be agitated by the tarifi; ages after our manu- 



220 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

factures shall have acquired a stability and perfection whic^ 
will enable them successfully to cope with the manufactures of 
any other country, the public lands will remain a subject of 
deep and enduring interest. In whatever view we contem- 
plate them, there is no question of such vast importance. As 
to their extent, there is public land enough to found an empire; 
stretching across the, immense continent, from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific ocean, from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwes- 
tern lakes, the quaniiiy according to official surveys and estim- 
ates, amounting to the prodigious sum of one billion and eighty 
millions of acres i As to the duration of the interest regarded as 
a source of comfort to our people, and of public income — during 
the last year, when the greatest quantity was sold that ever in 
one year, had been previously sold, it amounted to less than 
three millions of acres, producing three millions and a half of 
dollars. Assuming that year as affording the standard rate 
at which the lands will be annually sold, it would require 
three hundred years to dispose of them. But the sales will 
probably be accelerated from increased population and other 
causes. We may safely, however, anticipate that long, if not 
centuries after the present day, the representatives of our chil- 
dren's children may be deliberating in the halls of Congress, on 
Ib.ws relating to the public lands. 

The subject in other points of view, challenged the fullest 
attention of an American statesman. If there were any one 
circumstance more than all others which distinguished our happy 
condition from that of the nations of the old world, it was the 
possession of this vast national property, and the resources 
which it afforded to our people and our government. No Eu- 
ropean nation, (possibly Avith the exception of Russia,) com- 
manded such an ample resource. With respect to the other 
republics of this continent, we have no information that any of 
them have yet adopted a regular system of previous survey and 
subsequent sale of their wild lands, in convenient tracts, well de- 
fined, and adapted to the wants of all. On the contrary, the 
probability is that they adhere to the ruinous and mad system of 
old Spain, according to which large unsurveyed districts are 
granted to favorite individuals, prejudicial to them, who often 
sink under the incumbrance, and die in poverty, whilst the regu- 
lar current of emigration is checked and diverted from its legiti- 
mate channels. 

And if there be in the operations of this government, one which 
more than any other displays consummate wisdom and states- 
manship, it is that system by which the public lands have been so 
euccessfully administered. We should pause, solemnly pause, 
before we subvert it. We should touch it hesitatingly, and with 
the gentlest hand. The prudent management of the public lands, 
in the hands of the general government, will be more manifest 
by contrasting it with that of several of the states, which had 
the disposal of large bodies of waste lands. Virginia possessed 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 221 

an ample domain west of the mountains, and in the present 
state oP Kentucky, ov^er and above her munificent cession to 
the general government. Pressed for pecuniary means, by the 
revolutionary war, she brought her wild lands, during its pro- 
gress, into market, receiving payment in paper money. There 
were no previous surveys of the waste lands — no townships, no 
sections, no official deiinition or description of tracts. Each 
purchaser made his own location, describing the land bought as 
he thought proper. These locations or descriptions were often 
vague and uncertain. The consequence was, that the same 
tract was not unfrequently entered various times by different 
purc]\asers, so as to be literally shingled over with conflicting 
claims. The state perhaps sold in this way, much more land 
than it was entitled to, but then it received nothing in return that 
was valuable; whilst the purchasers in consequence of the 
clashing and interference between their rights, were exposed to 
tedious, vexatious, and ruinous litigation. Kentucky long and 
sev^erely suffered from this cause; and is just emerging from the 
troubles brought upon her by improvident land legislation. 
Western Virginia has also suffered greatly, though not to the 
same extent. 

The state of Georgia had large bodies of waste lands, which 
she disposed of in a manner satisfactory no doubt to herself, 
but astonishing to every one out of that commonwealth. Ac- 
cording to her system, waste lands are distributed in lotteries 
among the people of the state, in conformity with the enact- 
ments of the legislature. And when one district of country is 
disposed of, as there are many who do not drav/ prizes, the un- 
successful call out for fresh distributions. These are made, 
from time to time, as lands are acquired from the Indians; and 
hence one of the causes of the avidity witJi which the Indian 
lands are souglit. It is manifest that neither the present gene- 
ration nor posterity can derive much advantage from this mode 
of alienating public lands. On the contrary, I should think, it 
cannot fail to engender speculation and a spirit of gambling. 

The state of Kentucky, in virtue of a compact with Virginia, 
acquired a right to a quantity of public lands south of Green 
river. Pveglecting to profit by the unforfunaic example of the 
parent slate, she did not order the country to be surveyed pre- 
vious to its being offered to purchasers. Seduced by some of 
those wild land projects, of whicli at all times there have been 
some afloat, and which hitherto the general government alone 
has firmly resisted, she was tempted to offer her waste lands to 
settlers, at different prices, under the name of head-rights or 
pre-emptions. As the laws, like most legislation upon such sub- 
jects, Avere somewhat loosely worded, the keen eye of the specu- 
lator soon discerned the delects, and he took advantage of them. 
Instances had occurred of masters obtaining certificates of 
head riglits in the name of their slaves, and thus securing the 
19* 



222 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

land, in contravention of the intention of the legislature. Slaves 
generally have but one name, being called Tom, Jack, Dick, or 
Harry. To conceal the fraud, the owner would add Black, or 
some other cognomination, so that the certificate would read Tom 
Black, Jack Black, &c. The gentleman from Tennessee, (Mr. 
Grundy,) will remember, some twenty-odd years ago, when 
Ave were botli members of the Kentucky legislature, that I took 
occasion to animadvert upon these fraudulent practices, and 
observed that when the names came to be alphabeted, the truth 
would be told, whatever might be the language of the record ; 
for the alphabetwould read Black Tom, Black Harry, &c. Ken- 
tuck-y realised more in her treasury than the parent state had 
done, considering that she had but a renmant of public lands, 
and she added somewhat to her population. But they were far 
less available than they would have been under a system of pre- 
vious survey and regular sale. 

These observations in respect to the course of the respectable 
states rsferred to, in relation to their pubUc lands, are not 
prompted by any unkind feelings towards them, but to show the 
superiority of the land system of the United States. 

Under the system of the general government, the wisdom of 
v/hich, in some respects, is admitted even by the report of the 
land committee, the country subject to its operation, beyond the 
Alleghany mountains, has rapidly advanced in population, im- 
provement a:id prosperity. The example of the state of Ohio 
was emphatically relied on by the report of the committee ol' 
manufactures — its million of people, its canals, and other im- 
provements, its flourishing tov/ns, its highly cultivated fields, all 
put there v/ithin less than forty years. To weaken the force of 
this example, the land committee deny that the population of 
that state is principally settled upon public lands derived from 
the general government. But, Mr. President, with great defer- 
ence to that committee, I must say that it labors under misappre- 
hension. Three-fourths, if not four-fifths of the population of 
that state, arc settled upon public lands purchased from the 
United States, and they are the most flourishing parts of the 
.''tate. For the correctness of this statement I appeal to my 
friend from Ohio, (Mr. Ev.'ing,) near me. Pie knows as well as 
I do, tliat the rich valleys of the Miami of Ohio, and the Mau- 
mee of tiie Lake, the Scioto and the Muskingum, arc principally 
nettled by persons deriving titles to their lands from the United 
States. 

In a national point of view, one of the greatest advantages 
v/hich tliese public lands in the west, and this system of selling 
them, affords, is the resource which they present against pres- 
sure and v/ant, in other parts of the Union, from the vocations 
of society being too closely filled, and too much crowded. They 
constantly tend to sustain the price of labor, by the opportunity 
jvhich they otier of the acquisition of lertile land at a moderate 



ON THE PUBLIC LAxNDS. 223 

price, and the consequent temptation to emigrate from those 
parts of the Union where labor may be badly rewarded. 

The progress of settlement, and the improvement in the for- 
tunes and condition of individuals, under the operation of thia 
beneficent system, are as simple as they are manifest. Pioneers 
of a more adventurous character, advancing before the tide of 
emigration, penetrate into the uninhabited regions of the west. 
They apply the axe to the forest, which falls before them, or the 
plough to the prairie, deeply sinking its share in the unbroken 
wild grasses in which it abounds. They build houses, plant 
orchards, enclose fields, cultivate the earth, and rear up families 
around them. Meantime, the tide of emigration flows upon 
them, their improved farms rise in value, a demand for them 
takes place, they sell to the new comers, at a great advance, 
and proceed farther west, with ample means to purchase from 
government, at reasonable prices, sufficient land for all the 
members of their families. Another and another tide succeeds, 
the first pushing on v/estwardly the previous settlers, who, in 
their turn, sell out their farms, constantly augmenting in price, 
until they arrive at a fixed and stationary value. In this way, 
thousands and tens of thousands are daily improving their cir- 
cumstances, and bettering their condition. I have often wit- 
nessed this gratifying progress. On the same farm you may 
sometimes behold, standing together, the first rude cabin of 
round and unhewn logs, and v/ooden chimneys, the hewed log 
house, chinked and shingled, with stone or brick chimneys ; and 
lastly the comfortable brick or stone dwelling, each denoting 
the different occupants of the farm, or the several stages of the 
condition of the same occupant. Vv'^hat other nation can boast 
of such an outlet for it-s increasing population, such bountiful 
means of promoting their prosperity, and securing their indepen- 
dence ? 

To the public lands of the United States, and especially to 
tlie existing system by which they are distributed with so much 
regularity and equity, are we indebted for these signal benefits) 
in our national condition. And every consideration of duty, to 
ourselves, and to posterity, enjoins that we should abstain from 
the adoption of any wild project that would cast av/ay this vast 
national property, holden by the general government in sacred 
trust for the whole people ot' the United States, and forbids *.hat 
we should rashly touch a system which has been so successfully 
tested by experience. 

It has been only within a few years that restless men have 
thrown before the public their visionary plans for squandering 
the public domain. With the existing laws the great state of 
the west is satisfied and contented. She has felt their benefit, 
and grov/n great and powerful under their sway. She knows 
and testifies to the liberahty of the general government in the 
administration of the public lands, extended alike to her and to 
{he other new states. There are no petitions from, no move- 



324 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS, 

merits in Ohio, proposing vital and radical changes in the sys- 
tem. During the long period, in the House of Representatives, and 
in the senate, that her upright and unambitious citizen, the first 
representative of that state, and afterwards successively senator 
and governor, presided over the committee of public lands, 
we heard of none of these chimerical schemes. All went on 
smoothly, and quietly, and safely. No man, in the sphere with- 
in which he acted, ever commanded or deserved the implicit 
confidence of Congress more than Jeremiah Morrow. There 
existed a peri'ect persuasion of his entire impartiality and justice 
between the old states and the new. A few artless but sensible 
words, pronounced in his plain Scotch Irish dialect, were al- 
ways sufficient to ensure the passage of any bill or resolution 
which he reported. For about twenty-five years, there was no 
essential change in the system ; and that which was at last 
made, varying the price of the public lands Irom two dollars, at 
which it had all that time remained, to one dollar and a quarter, 
at which it has been fixed only about ten or twelve years, was 
founded mainly on the consideration of abolishing the previous 
credits. 

Assuming the duplication of our population in terms of twen- 
ty-five years, the demand for waste land, at the end of every 
term, will at least be double what it was at the coiimiencemenr. 
But the ratio of the increased demand will be much greater than 
the increase of the whole population of the United States, be- 
cause the western states nearest to, or including the public lands, 
populate much more rapidly than other parts of the Union ; and 
it will be from them that the greatest current of emigration will 
flow. At this moment Ohio, Kentuclcy, and Tennessee, arc the 
most migrating states in the Union. 

To supply this constantly augmenting demand, the policy, 
which has hilherto characterised the general government, has 
been highly liberal both towards individuals and the new states. 
Large tracts, far surpassing the demand of purchasers, in every 
climate and situation, adapted 1o the wants of all parts of the 
Union, are brought into the market at moderate prices, the gov- 
ernment having sustained all tjie expense of tlie original pur- 
chase, and of surveying, marking, and dividing the land. For 
fifty dollars any poor man may purchase forty, acres of first rate 
land ; and for less than the wages of one year's labor, he may 
buy eighty acres. To the new states also has the government 
been liberal and generous in the grants for schools and for inter- 
nal improvements, as well as in reducing the debt, contracted for 
the purchase of lands, by the citizens of those states, who were 
templed, in a spirit of inordinate speculation, to purchase too 
much, or at too high prices. 

Such is a rapid outline of this invaluable national property — 
of the system whif,]i regulates its management and distribution, 
and of the effects of that system. We might here pause, and won- 
der that there should be a disposition with any to waste or Uirow 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 225 

away this great resource, or to abolish a system which has been 
fraught witli so many manifest advantages. Nevertheless, there 
are sucii, who, impatient with the slow and natural operation of 
wise laws, have put forth various pretensions and projects con- 
cerning ihe public lands, within a few years past. One of these 
pretensions is, an assumption of the sovereign right of the new 
Gtates to all the lands within their respective limits, to the exclu- 
sion of the general government, and to the exclusion of all the 
people of the United States, those in the new states only excep- 
ted. It is my purpose now to trace the origin, examine the na- 
ture, and expose the injustice of this pretension. 

Tiiis pretension may be lairlj^ ascribed to the propositions of 
the gentleman from Missouri. (Mr. Benton,) lo graduate the pub- 
lic lands, to reduce the price, and to cede the "refuse " lands (a 
term which I believe originated wiih him.) to the states within 
which they lie. Prompted, probably, by the.se propositions, a late 
Governor of Illinois, unwilling to be outdone, presented an elab- 
orate message to the legislature of that state, in which he grave- 
ly and formally asserted the right of that state to all the land of 
the United States, comprehended within its limits. It must be 
allowed tliat the Governor was a most impartial judge, and the 
legislature a most disinterested tribunal, to decide such a ques- 
tion. 

The senator from Missouri was chanting most sweetly to the 
tune, '-refuse lands," "refuse lands," "refuse lands," on the Mis- 
souri side of the Mississippi, and the soft strains of his music, 
having caught the ear of his excellency, on the Illinois side, he 
joined in chorus, and struck an octave higher. The senator from 
Missouri wished only to pick up some crumbs which fell from 
Uncle Sam's table ; but the Governor resolved to grasp the whole 
ioaf. The senator modestly claimed only an old smoked, reject- 
ed joint ; but the stomach of his excellency yearned after the 
whole hog ! The Governor peeped over the Mississippi into 
Missouri, and saw the senator leisurely roaming in some rich 
pastures, on bits of refuse lands. He returned to Illinois, and, 
springing into the grand prairie, determined to claim and occupy 
it, in all its boundless extent. 

Then came the resolution of the senator from Virginia, (Mr. 
Tazewell,) in May, 1826, in the following Avords: '■'■Resolved, 
That it is expedient for the United States to cede and surrender 
to the several states, within whose limits the same may be situ- 
ated, all the right, title, and interest, of the United States, to any 
lands lying and being within the boundaries of such states, res- 
pectively, upon such terms and conditions as may be consistent 
with the due observance of the public faith, and with the general 
interest of the United States." The latter words rendered the 
resolution somewhat ambiguous ; but still it contemplated a ces- 
sion and surrender. Subsequently the senator from Virginia 
proposed, after a certain time, a gratuitous surrender of all un- 



S26 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

sold land.?, to be applied by the legislature, in support of educa- 
tion and the internal improvement of the state. 

[Here Mr. Tazewell controverted the statement. Mr. Clay 
called to the secretary to hand him the journal of April, 1828, 
which he held up to the senate, and read from it the following : 
" The bill to graduate the price of the public lands, to make do- 
nations thereof to actual settlers, and to cede the refuse to the 
states in which they lie, being under consideration — 

"Mr. Tazewell moved to insert the following, as a substitute: 
That the lands which shall have been subject to sale under the 
provisions of this act, and shall remain unsold for two years, af- 
ter having been offered at twenty-five cents per acre, shall be, 
and the same is ceded to the state in which the same may lie, to 
be applied by the legislature thereof in support of education, and 
the internal improvement of the state."] 

Thus it appears not only that the honorable senator proposed 
the cession, but shewed himself the friend of education and in- 
ternal improvements, by means derived from the general govern- 
ment. For this liberal disposition on his part, I believe, it was 
that the state of Missouri honored a new county with his name. 
If he had carried his proposition, that state might well have 
granted a principality to him. 

The memorial of the legislature of Illinois, probably produced 
by the message of the Governor already noticed, had been pre- 
sented, asserting a claim to the public lands. And it seems (al- 
though the fact had escaped my recollection until I was remind- 
ed of it by one of her senators, (Mr. Hendricks,) the other day,) 
that the legislature of Indiana had instructed her senators to 
bring forward a similar claim. At the last session, however, of 
the legislature of that state, resolutions had passed, instructing 
her delegation to obtain from the general government cessions of 
the unajipropriaied public lands, on the most favorable terms. — 
It is clear, from this last expression of the will of that legislature, 
that, on re-consideration, it believed the right to the public lands 
to be in the general government, and not in the state of Indiana. 
For, if they did not belong to the general government, it had no- 
thing to cede ; if they belonged already to the state, no cession 
was necessary to the perfection of the right of the state. 

I will here submit a passing observation. If the general gov- 
ernment had the power to cede the public lands to the new states 
for particular purposes, and on prescribed conditions, its power 
must be unquestionable to make some reservations, for similar 
purposes, in behalf of the old states. Its power cannot be with- 
out limit as to the new states, and circumscribed and restricted 
as to the old. Its capacity to bestow benefits or dispense justice 
is not confined to the new states, but is co-extensive with the 
whole Union. It may grant to all, or it can grant to none. And 
this comprehensive equity is not only in conformity with the spi- 
rit of the cessions in the deeds from the ceding states, but is ex- 
pressly enjoined by the terms of those deeds. 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 227 

Such is the probable origin of the pretension which I have 
been tracing ; and now let us examine its nature and foundation. 
The argument, in behalf of the new states, is founded on the no- 
tion, that as the old states, upon coming out of the revolutionary 
war, had or claimed a right to all the lands within their respec- 
tive limits ; and as the new states have been admitted into the 
Union on the same footing and condition, in all respects, with the 
old ; therefore they are entitled to all the waste lands, embraced 
within their boundaries. But the argument forgets that all the 
revolutionary states had not waste lands ; that some had but very 
little and others none. It forgets that the right of the states to 
the waste lands within their limits was controverted ; and that it 
was insisted that, as they had been conquered in a common war, 
waged with common means, and attended with general sacrifi- 
ces, the public h\nds should be held for the common benefit of 
all the states. It forgets that, in consequence of this right as- 
Kcrted in behalf of the whole Union, the states that contained any 
large bodies of waste lands, (and Virginia, particularly, that had 
the most) ceded them to the Union for the equal benefit of all the 
states. It forgets that the very equality, which is the basis of 
the argument, would be totally subverted by the admission of 
the validity of the pretension. For how would the matter then 
stand ? The revolutionary states will have divested themselves 
of the large districts of vacant lands which they contained, for 
llie common benefit of all the states, and those same lands will 
enure to the benefit of the new states exclusively. There will 
be, on the supposition of the validity of the pretension, a revers- 
al of the condition of the two classes of states. Instead of the 
old having, as is alledged, the wild lands which they included at 
fJie epoch of the revolution, they will have none, and the new 
states all. And this in the name, and for the purpose, of equali- 
ty among all the members of the confederacy ! What, especial- 
ly, would be the situation of Virginia? She magnanimously 
ceded an empire in extent for the common heneft. And now it 
is proposed not only to withdraw that empire from the object of 
its solemn dedication, to the use of all the states, but to deny her 
any participation in it, and appropriate it exclusively to the be- 
nefit of the new states carved out of it. 

If the new states had any right to the public lands, in order to 
produce the very equality contended for, they ought forthwith to 
cede that right to the Union, for the common benefit of all the 
states. Having no such right, they ought to acquiesce cheerful- 
ly in an equality which does, in fact, now exist between theni 
and the old states. 

The committee of manufactures has clearly shown, that if the 
right were recognized in the new states now existing, to the pub- 
lic lands within their limits, each of the new states, as they might 
hereafter be successively admitted into the Union, would have 
the same right ; and consequently that the pretension under ex- 



U28 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

amlnation embraces, in effect, the whole public domain, that is, 
a billion and eighty millions of acres of land. 

The right of the Union to the public lands is incontestible. It 
ought not to be considered debateable. It never was questioned 
but by a few, whose monstrous heresy, it was probably suppos- 
ed, would escape animadversion iVom the enormity of the absur- 
dity, and the utter impracticability of the success of the claim. 
The right of the whole is sealed by the blood of the revolution, 
founded upon solemn deeds of cession from sovereign states, de- 
liberately executed in the face of the world, or resting upon na- 
tional treaties concluded with foreign powers, on ample equiva- 
lents contributed from the common treasury of the people of the 
United States. 

This right of the whole was stamped upon the face of the new 
states at the very instant of their parturition. They admitted 
and recognized it with their first breath. They hold their sta- 
tions, as members of the confederacy, in virtue of that admission. 
The senators who sit here, and the members in the house of re- 
presentatives from the new states, deliberate in Congress with 
other senators and representatives, under that admission. And, 
since the new states came inio being, they have recognized this 
right of the general government by innumerable acts. 

By their concurrence in the passage of hundreds of laws re- 
specting the public domain, founded upon the incontestible right 
of the whole of the states. 

By repeated applications to extinguish Indian titles, and to 
survey the lands which they covered. 

And by solicitation and acceptance of extensive grants from 
the general government, of the public lands. 

Ttie existence of the new states is a falsehood, or the right of 
all the states to the public domain is an undeniable truth. They 
have no moi-e right to the public lands, within their particular 
jurisdiction, than other states have to the mint, the forts and 
arsenals, or public ships, within theirs, or than the people of the 
District of Columbia have to this magnificent capitol, in whose 
splendid halls we now deliberate. 

The equality contended for between all the states now exists. 
The public lands are now held, and ought to be held, and ad- 
ministered tor the common benefit of all. I hope our fellow citi- 
zens of Illinois, Indiana and Missouri, will re-consider the mat- 
ter ; that they will cease to take counsel from demagogues who 
v/ould deceive them, and instil erroneous principles into their 
ears ; and that they will feel and acknowledge that their brethren 
of Kentucky, and of Ohio, and of all the states in the Union, 
have an equal right with the citizens of those three states in the 
public lands. If the possibility of an event so direful as a sev- 
erance of this Union were for a moment contemplated, and what 
would be the probable consequence of such an unspeakable ca- 
lamity, three conlederacics were formed out of its fragments, do 
you miagine that the western confederacy would consent to the 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 229 

states including the public lands, holding them exclusively for 
themselves? Can you imagine that the states of Ohio, Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, would quietly renounce their right in all 
the public lands west of them ? No, sir ! No, sir ! They would 
wade to their knees in blood before they would make such an 
unjust and ignominious surrender. 

But this pretension, unjust to the old States, unequal as to all, 
would be injurious to the new States themselves, in whose be- 
half it has been put forth, if it were recognized. The interest 
of the new States is not confined to the lands within their limits, 
but extends to the whole billion and eighty millions of acres. 
Sanction the claim, however, and they are cut down and restricted 
to that which is included in their own boundaries. Is it not 
better for Ohio, instead of the five millions and a half— for Indi- 
ana, instead of the fifteen millions — or even for Illinois, instead 
of the thirty-one or thirty-two millions — or Missouri, instead of 
the thirty-eight millions — within their respective limits, to retain 
their interest in those several quantities, and also retain their 
interest, in common with the other members of the Union, in the 
countless millions of acres that lie west, or north-west, beyond 
them? 

I will now proceed, Mr. President, to consider the expediency 
of a reduction of the price of the public lands and the reasons 
assigned by the land committee, in their report, in favor of that 
measure. They are presented there in formidable detail, and 
Bpread out under seven different heads. Let us examine them: 
the first is, "because the new States have a clear right to par- 
ticipate in the benefits of a reduction of the revenue to the wants 
of the government, by getting the reduction extended to the arti- 
cle of revenue chiefly used by them." Here is a renewal of the 
attempt, made early in the session, Iro confound the public lands 
with foreign imports, which was so successfully exposed and 
refuted by the report of the committee on manufactures. Will 
not the new States participate in any reduction of the revenue, 
in common with the old States, without touching the public 
lands? As far as they are consumers of objects of foreign im- 
ports, will they not equally share the benefit with the old State.?? 
What right, over and above that equal participation, have the 
new States to a reduction of tlie price of the public lands ? As 
States, what right, much less what " clear right" have they to 
any such reduction? In their sovereign or corporate capacities, 
what right? Have not all the stipulations between them, as 
States, and the general government, been fully complied with ? 
Have the people, within the new States, considered distinct from 
the States themselves, any right to such reduction ? Whence is 
it derived? They went there in pursuit of their own happinesa 
They bought lands from the public because it was their interest 
to make the purchase, and they enjoy them. Did they, because 
they purchased some land, which they possess peacefully, att- 



230 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

quire any, and what right, in the land which they did not buyl 
But it may be argued, that by settling and improving these lands, 
the adjacent public lands are enhanced. True ; and so are their 
own. This enhancement of the public lands was not a conse- 
quence which they went there to produce, but was a collateral 
effect, as to which they were passive. The public does not seek 
to avail itself of this augmentation in value, by augmenting the 
price. It leaves that where it was ; and the demand for reduc- 
tion ia made in behalf of those who say their labor has increased 
the value of the public lands, and the claim to reduction is 
founded upon the fact of enhanced value. The public, like all 
other landholders, had a right to anticipate that the sale of a 
part would communicate, incidentally, greater value upon the 
residue. And, like all other land proprietors, it has the right to 
ask more for that residue, but it does not; and, lor one, I should 
be as unwilling to disturb the existing price by augmentation as 
by reduction. But the public lands is the article of revenue 
which the people of the new States chieHy consirme. In another 
part of this report liberal grants of the public lands are recom- 
mended, and the idea of holding the public lands as a source 
of revenue is scouted, because it is said that more revenue could 
be collected from the settlers, as consumers, than from the lands. 
Here it seems that the public lands are the article of revenue 
chiefly consumed by the new States. 

With respect to lands yet to be sold, they are open to the pur- 
chase, alike, of emigrants from the old States, and settlers in 
the new. As the latter have most generally supplied themselves 
with lands, tjie probability is, that the emigrants are more inte- 
rested in the question of reduction than the settlers. At all 
events, there can be no peculiar right to such reduction existing 
in the new States. It is a question conmion to all, and to be 
decided in reference to the interest of tlie whole Union. 

2. "Because the public debt being now paid, the public lands 
are entirely released from the pledge they were under to that 
object, and are free to receive a new and liberal destination^ for 
the relief of the States in which they lieP 

The payment of the public debt is conceded to be near at 
hand ; and it is admitted that the public lands, being liberated, 
may now receive a new and liberal destination. Sueh an appro- 
priation of their proceeds is proposed by the bill reported by the 
committee of manufactures, and which I shall hereafter call the 
attention of the Senate more particularly to. But it did not 
seem just to that committee, that this new and liberal destination 
of them should be restricted "for the relief of the States in 
which they lie," exclusively, but should extend to all the States 
indiscriminately upon principles of equitable distribution. 

3. " Because nearly one hundred millions of acres of the land 
novy in market are the refuse of sales and donations, through a long 
series of years, and are of very little actual value, and only fit to 
be given to settlers, or abandoned to the States in which they lie." 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 231 

According to an official statement, the total quantity of public 
land which had been surveyed up to the 31st ot" December last, 
was a little upwards of 162,000,000 acres. Of this a large pro- 
portion, perhaps even more than the 100,000,000 acres stated in 
the land report, has been a long time in market. The entire 
quantity which has ever been sold by the United States, up to 
the same day, after deducting lands relinquished and lands re- 
verted to the United States, according to an official statement 
also, is 25,242,590 acres. Thus, ailer the lapse of thirty-six 
years, during which the present land system has been in opera- 
tion, a little more than twenty-five millions of acres have been 
sold, not averaging a million per annum, and upwards of one 
hundred millions of the surveyed lands remain to be sold. The 
argument of the report of the land committee assumes that 
"nearly one hundred millions are the refuse of sales and dona- 
tions," are of very little actual value, and only fit to be given to 
settlers, or abandoned to the States in which they lie. 

Mr. President, let us define as we go — let us analyze. What 
do the land committee mean by "refuse land?" Do they mean 
worthless, inferior, rejected land, which nobody will buy at the 
present government price? Let us look at facts, and make tliem 
our guide. The government is constantly pressed by the new 
States to bring more and more lands into the market; to extin- 
guish more Indian titles; to survey more. The new States 
themselves are probably urged to operate upon the general gov- 
ernment by emigrants and settlers, Avho see still before them, in 
their progress west, other new lands which they desire. The 
general government yields to the solicitations. It throws more 
land into the market, and it is annually and daily preparing ad- 
ditional surveys of fresh lands. It has thrown and is preparing 
to throw open to purchasers already 162,000,000 of acres. And 
now, because the capacity to purchase, in its nature limited by 
the growth of our population, is totally incompetent to absorb 
this. immense quantity, the government is called upon, by some 
of the very persons who urged the exhibition of this vast amount 
to sale, to consider all that remains unsold as refuse! Twenty- 
five millions in thirty-six years only are sold, and all the rest is 
to be looked upon as refuse. Is this right? If there had been 
five hundred rnillions in market, there probably would not have 
been more, or much more sold. But I deny the correctness of 
the conclusion that it is worthless because not sold. It is not 
sold because there were not people to buy it. You must have 
gone to other countries, to other worlds, to the moon, and drawn 
from thence people to buy the prodigious quantity which you 
offered to sell. 

Refuse land ! A purchaser goes to a district of country and 
buys out of a township a section which strikes his fancy. He 
exhausts his money. Others might have preferred other sec- 
tions. Other sections may even be better than his. He can 
with no more propriety be said to have "refused" or rejected all 



232 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

the other sections, than a man who, attracted by the beauty, 
charms and accompHshments of a particular lady, marries her, 
can be said to have rejected or refused all the rest of the sex. 

Is ii credible that out of 150 or 160,000,000 of acres of land in 
a valley celebrated for its fertility, there are only about 25,000,000 
of acres of good land, and that all the rest is refuse? Take the 
State of Illinois as an example. Of all the States in the Union, 
that State probably contains the greatest proportion of rich, fer- 
tile lands; more tlian Ohio, more than Indiana, abounding as 
they both do in fine lands. Of the thirty-three millions and a 
half of public lands in Illinois, a little more only than two mil- 
lions have been sold. Is the residue of thirty-one millions all 
refuse land? Who that is acquainted in the west can assert or 
believe it? No, sir; there is no such thing. The unsold lands 
are unsold because of tiie reasons already assigned. Doubtless 
there is much inferior land remaining, but a vast quantity of the 
best of lands also. For its timber, soil, water power, grazing, 
minerals, almost all land possesses a certain value. If the lands 
misold are refuse and worthless in the hands of the general 
government, Avhy are they sought after with so much avidity? 
If in our hands they are good for nothing, what more would they 
be worth in the hands of the new States? " Only fit to be given 
to settlers!" What settlers would thank you? what settlers 
would not scorn a gift oi' refuse, worthless land? If you mean 
to be generous, give them what is valuable; be manly in your 
generosity. 

But let us examine a little closer this idea of refuse land. If 
there be any state in which it is to be found in large quantities, 
that state would be Ohio. It is the oldest of the new states. 
There the public lands have remained longest exposed in the 
market. But there we find only five millions and a half to be 
sold. And I hold in my hand an account of sales in the Zanes- 
ville district, one of the oldest in that state, made during the 
present year. It is in a paper, entitled the " Ohio Republican," 
published at Zancsville the 26th May, 1832. The article is 
headed "refuse land," and it states: "It has suited the interest 
of some to represent the lands of tlie United States which have 
remained in market for many years, as mere ' refuse' Avhich 
cannot be sold ; and to urge a rapid reduction of price, and the 
cession of the residue in a short period, to the states in which 
they are situated. It is strongly urged against this plan that it 
is a speculating project, which, by alienating a large quantity 
of land from the United States, will cause a great increase of 
price to actual settlers, in a few years— instead of their being 
able forever, as it may be said is the case under the present sys 
tern of land sales, to obtain a farm at a reasonable price. To 
show how far the lands unsold are from being worthless, we 
copy from the Gazette the following statement of recent sales 
in tlie Zanesville district, one of the oldest districts in the wesL 
The sales at the Zanesville land office since the commencement 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 233 

of the present year, have been as follows: January, $7,120 80, 
February $3,542 67, March $11,744 75, April $9,209 19, and 
since the first of the present month about 9,000 dollars worth 
have been sold, more than half of which was in 40 acre lots." 
And there cannot be a doubt that the act, passed at this session, 
authorizing sales of 40 acres, will, from the desire to make ad- 
ditions to farms, and to settle young members of families, in- 
crease the sales very much, at least during this year. 

A friend of mine in*this city bought in Illinois last fall about 
2,000 acres of this refuse land, at the minimum price, for which 
he has lately refused six dollars per acre. An officer of this 
body, now in my eye, purchased a small tract of this same re- 
fuse land of 160 acres, at second or third hand, entered a few 
years ago, and which is now estimated at 1,900 dollars. It is a 
business, a very profitable business, at which fortunes are made 
in the new states, to purchase these refuse lands, and, without 
improving them, to sell them again at large advances. 

Far from being discouraged by the fact of so much surveyed 
public land remaining unsold, we should rejoice that this bounti- 
ful resource, possessed by our country, remains in almost un- 
diminished quantity, notwithstanding so many new and flour- 
ishing states have sprung up in the wilderness, and so many 
thousands of families have been accommodated. It might be 
otherwise, if the public land was dealt out by government with 
a sparing, grudging, griping hand. But they are liberally offer- 
ed, in exhaustless quantities, and at moderate prices, enriching in- 
dividuals, and tending to the rapid improvement of the country. 
The two important facts brought forward and emphatically dwelt 
on by the committee of manufactures stand in their full force 
unafiected by any thing stated in the report of the land commit- 
tee. These facts must carry conviction to every unbiassed 
mind that will deliberately consider them. The first is the rapid 
increase of the new states, far outstripping the old, averaging 
annually an increase of eight and a half per cent., and doubling 
of course in twelve years. One of these states, Illinois, full of 
refuse land, increasing at the rate of eighteen and a half per 
cent.! Would this astonishing growth take place if the lands 
were too high or all the good land sold 1 The other fact is the 
vast increase in the annual sales; in 1830, rising of three millions. 
Since the report of the committee of manufactures, the re- 
turns have come in of the sales of last year, which had been 
estimated at three millions. They were in fact $3,566,127 94! 
Their progressive increase baffles all calculation. Would this 
happen, if the price were too high? 

It is argued that the value of different townships and sections is 
various; and that it is, therefore, Avrong to fix the same price for 
all. The variety in the quality, situation, and advantages of 
different tracts, is no doubt great. After the adoption of any 
BVBtem of classification, there would still remain very great 
20* 



234 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

diversity in the tracts belonging to the same class. This is 
the law of nature. The presumption of inferiority, and of refuse 
land, founded upon the length of time that the land had been in 
market, is denied, ibr reasons already stated. The offer, at 
public auction, of all lands to the highest bidder, previous to 
their being sold at private sale, provides in some degree for 
the variety in the value, since each purchaser pushes the land 
up to the price which, according to his opinion, it ought to com- 
mand. But if the price demanded by government is not too 
high for the good land, (and no one can believe it), why not 
wait until that is sold before any reduction of price in the bad? 
And that will not be sold for many years to come. It would 
be quite as wrong to bring tiie price of good land down to the 
standard of tlie bad, as it is alledged to be to carry the latter up to 
that of the former. Until the good land is sold there will be no 
purchasers of the bad : for, as has been stated in the report of 
the committee on manufactures, a discreet farmer would rather 
give a dollar and a quarter per acre for first rate land, than accept 
refuse and worthless land as a present. 

"4. Because the speedy extinction of the federal title within 
their limits is necessary to the independence of the new states, 
to their equality with the elder states ; to the development of 
their resources ; to the subjection of their soil to taxation, cidti- 
vation and settlement, and to the proper enjoyment of their juris- 
diction and sovereignty." 

All this is mere assertion and declamation. The general gov- 
erimient, at a moderate price, is selling the public land as fast 
as it can find purchasers. The new states are populating with 
unexampled rapidity; their condition is now much more eligible 
than that of some of the old states. Ohio, I am sorry to be obliged 
to confess, is, in internal improvement and some other respects, 
fifty years in advance of her elder sister and neighbor, Kentucky. 
How have her growth and prosperity, her independence, her 
equality with the elder states, the development of her resources, 
the taxation, cultivation, and settlement of her soil, or the proper 
enjoyment of her jurisdiction and sovereignty, been affected or 
impaired by the f'ederal title within her limits? The federal 
title! It has been a source of blessings and of bounties, but not 
one of real grievance. As to the exemption from taxation of 
the public lands, and the exemption for five years, of those sold 
to individuals, if the public land belonged to the new states. 
Avould they tax it ? And as to the latter exemption, it is paid for 
by the general government, as may be seen by reference to the 
compacts ; and it is moreover, beneficial to the new states them- 
selves, by holding out a motive 'to emigrants to purchase and 
settle within their limits. 

"6. Because the ramified machinery of the land office depart- 
ment, and the ownership of so much soil, extends the patronage 
and authority of the general government into the heart and cor- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 235 

tiers of the new states, and subjects their poliaj to the danger of 
^foreign and powerful influence." 

A foreign and powerful influence! The federal government a 
foreign government! And the exercise of a legitimate control 
over the national property, for the benefit of the whole people 
of the United States, a deprecated penetration into the heart 
and corners of the new states ! As to the calamity of the land 
offices, which are held within them, I believe that is not regarded 
by the people of those states with quite as much horror as it is 
viewed by the land committee. They justly consider that they 
ought to hold those offices themselves, and that no persons 
ought to be sent from the other foreign states of this Union to fill 
them. And, if the number of the offices were increased, it 
would not be looked upon by them as a grievous addilion to the 
calamity. 

But what do the land committee mean by the authority of this 
foreign, federal government? Surely they do not desire to get 
rid of the federal government. And yet the final settlement of 
the land question will have effected but little in expelling its 
authority from the bosoms of the new states. Its action will 
still remain in a thousand forms, and the heart and corners of 
the new states will still be invaded by post-offices and post- 
masters, and post-roads, and the Cumberland road, and various 
other modifications of its power. 

"7th. Because the sum of 425 millions of dollars proposed to 
be drawn from the new slates and territories, by die sale of their 
soil, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, is unconscion- 
able and impracticable — such as never can be paid — and the 
bare attempt to raise which, must drain, exhaust and impoverish 
these states, and give birth to the feelings, which a sense of in- 
justice and oppression never I'ail to excite, and the excitement 
of which should be so carefully avoided in a confederacy of free 
states.'" 

In another part of their report the committee say, speaking of 
the immense revenue alledgcd to be derivable from the public 
lands, "this ideal revenue is estimated at $425,000,000, ibr the 
lands now Avithin the limits of the States and Territories, and at 
$1,363,589,691 for the whole federal domain. Such chimerical 
calculations preclude the propriety of argumentative answers." 
Well, if these calculations are all chimerical, there is no danger 
from the preservation of the existing land system of draining, 
exhausting and impoverishing the new States, and of exciting 
them to rebellion. 

The manufacturing committee did not state what the public 
lands would, in fact, produce. They could not state it. It is 
hardly a subject of approximate estimate. The committee stated 
what would be the proceeds, estimated by the minimum price 
of the public lands; what, at one half of that price ; and added 
that, although there might be much land that would never sell 
at one dollar and a quarter per acre, "as fresh lands are brought 



236 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

into market and exposed to sale at public auction, many of them 
sell at prices exceeding one dollar and a quarter per acre." 
They concluded by remarking that the least I'avorable view of 
regarding them was to consider them a capital yielding an an- 
nuity of three millions of dollars at this time ; that, in a few 
years, that annuity Avould probably be doubled, and that the 
capital might then be assumed as equal to one hundred millions 
of dollars. 

Whatever may be the sura drawn from tlie sales of the public 
lands, it will be contributed, not by citizens of the States alone 
in which they are situated, but by emigrants from all the States. 
And it will be raised, not in a single year, but in a long series 
of years. It would have been impossible for the State of Ohio 
to have paid, in one year, the millions that have been raised in 
that State by the sale of public lands ; but in a period of up- 
wards of thirty years the payment has been made, not only 
without impoverishing, but with the constantly increasing pros- 
perity of the State. 

Such, Mr. President, are the reasons of the land committee 
for the reduction of the price of the public lands. Some of them 
had been anticipated and refuted in the report of the manufac- 
turing committee ; and I hope that I have now shown the inso- 
lidity of the residue. 

I will not dwell upon the consideration urged in that report 
against any large reduction, founded upon its inevitable ten- 
dency to lessen the value of the landed property throughout the 
Union, and that in the western States especially. That such 
would be the necessary consequence, no man can doubt who 
will seriously reflecL upon such a measure as that of throwing 
into the market, immediately, upwards of one hundred and 
thirty millions of acres, and at no distant period upAvards of two 
hundred millions more, at greatly reduced rates. 

If the honorable chairman of the land committee, (Mr. King,) 
had relied upon his own sound practical sense, he would have 
presented a report far less objectionable than that wliicii he has 
made. He has availed himself of another's aid, and the hand 
of the Senator from Missouri, (Mr. Benton,) is as visible in the 
composition as if his name had been subscribed to the instru- 
ment. We hear again, in this paper, of that which we had so 
often heard repeated before in debate, by the Senator from 
Missouri, — the sentiments of Edmund Burke. And what was 
the state of things in England, to which those sentiments were 
applied? 

England has too little land, and too many people. America 
has too much land, for the present population of the country, and 
wants people. The British crown had owned, for many genera- 
tions, large bodies of land, preserved for game and forest, from 
which but small revenues were derived. It was proposed to sell 
out the crown lands, that they might be peopled and cultivated, 
and that the royal family should be placed on the civil hst. Mr. 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 237 

Burke supported the proposition by convincing arguments. But 
what analogy is there between the crown lands of the British 
sovereign, and the public lands of the United States'? Are 
they here locked up I'rom the people, and, for tJie sake of their 
game or timber, excluded from sale? Are not they freely ex- 
posed in market, to all who want them, at moderate prices? — 
The complaint is, that they are not sold fast enough, in other 
words, that people are not multiplied rapidly enough to buy 
them. Patience, gentlemen of the land committee, patience! 
The new States ar^^. daily rising in power and importance. Some 
of them are already great and flourishing members of the con- 
federacy. And, il' you will only acquiesce in the certain and 
quiet operation of the laws of God and man, the wilderness 
will qniclvly teem with people, and be filled with the monuments 
of civilization. 

The report of the land committee proceeds to notice and to 
animadvert upon certain opinions of a late Secretary of, the 
Treasury, contained in his annual report, and endeavors to con- 
nect them with some sentimenls expressed in the report of the 
committee of manufactures. That report had before been the 
subject of repeated conmientary in the Senate, by the Senator 
from Missouri, and of much misrepresentation and vituperation 
in the public press. Mr. Rush showed me the rough draft of that 
report, and I advined him to expunge the paragrapjis in question, 
because I foresaw that tiicy would be misrepresented, and that 
he would be exposed to unjust accusation. But knowing the 
purity of his intentions, believing in the soundness of the views 
which he presented, and confiding in the candor of a just public, 
he r':?so!ved to retain the i)aragraphs. I cannot suppose the Sen- 
ator from Missouri ignorant of what passed between Mr. Rush 
and me, and of his having, against my suggestions, retained the 
paragraphs in question, because these lacts were all stated by 
Mr. Rush himself, in a letter addressed to a late member of the 
House of Representatives, representing the district in which I 
reside, which letter, more than a year ago, was published in the 
western papers. 

I shall say nothing in defence of myself — nothing to disprove 
the cliarge of my cherishing unfriendly feelings and sentimenta 
towards any part of the west. If the public acts in which I have 
participated; if the uniform tenor of my whole lite will not refute 
such an imputation, nothing that I could here say would refute it 

But I will say something in defence of the opinions of my 
late patriotic and enlightened colleague, not here to speak for 
himself; and I will vindicate his olRcial opinions from the erro- 
neous glosses and interpretations which have leen put upon 
them. 

Mr. Rush, in an official report which will long remain a monu- 
ment of his abilitj'', was surveying with a statesman's eye the 
condition of America. He was arguing in favor of the protec- 
tive policy — the American system. He spoke of the limited vo* 



238 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

cations of our society, and the expediency of multiplying the 
means of increasing subsistence, comfort and wealth. He no- 
ticed the great and the constant tendency of our fellow-citizens 
to the cultivation of the soil, the Avant of a market for their 
surplus produce, the inexpediency of all blindly rushing to the 
same universal employment, and the policy of dividing ourselves 
into various pursuits. He says — "The manner in which the 
remote lands of the United States are selling and settling, whilst 
it possibly may tend to increase more quickly the aggregate popu- 
lation of the country, and the mere means of subsistence, does 
not increase capital in the same proportion. * * * Any 
thing that may serve to hold back this tendency to diffusion from 
running too far and too long into an extreme, can scarcely prove 
otherwise than salutary. * * * * jf the population 
of these [a majority of the States, including some western States] 
not yet redundant in fact, though appearing to be so, under this 
legislative incitement to emigrate, remain fixed in more instan- 
ces, as it probably would be by extending the motives to manu- 
facturing labor, it is believed that the nation would gain in two 
ways : first, by the more rapid accunmlation of capital ; and 
next by the gradual reduction of the excess of its agricultural 
population over that engaged in other vocations. It is not ima- 
gined that it ever would be practicable, even if it were desirable, 
to turn this stream of emigration aside; but resources, opened 
through the influence of the laws, in new fields of industry, to 
the inhabitants of the States already sufficiently peopled to enter 
upon them, might operate to lessen, in some degree, and usefully 
lessen, its absorbing force." 

Nov/, Mr. President, what is there in this view adverse to the 
wefrt, or unfavorable to its interests? Mr. Rush is arguing on 
the tendency of the people to engage in agriculture, and the 
incitement to emigration produced by our laws. Does he pro- 
pose to change those laws in that particular? Does he propose, 
in fact, any new measure? So far from suggesting any altera- 
tion of the conditions on which the public lands are sold, he ex- 
pressly says that it is not desirable, if it were practicable, to turn 
this stream of emigration aside. Leaving all the laws in full 
force, and all the motives to emigration, arising from fertile and 
cheap lands, untouched, he recommends the encouragement of a 
new branch of business, in which all the Union, the west as 
well as the rest, is interested; thus presenting an option to popu- 
lation to engage in manufactures or in agriculture, at its owii 
discretion. And does such an option afford just ground of com- 
plaint to any one? Is it not an a.dvantage to all? Do the land 
committee desire (I am sure they do not) to create starvation in 
one part of the Union, that emigrants may be forced into another? 
If they do not, they ought not to condemn a multiplication of 
human employments, by which, as its certain consequence, there 
will be an increase in the means of subsistence and comfort. 
The objection to Mr. Rush, then, is, that he looked at his ichole 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 239 

country, and at all parts of it; and that, whilst he desired the 
prosperity and growth of the west to advance undisturbed, he 
wished to build up, on deep foundations, the welfare of all tlie 
people. 

Mr. Rush knew that there were thousands of the poorer class- 
es who never could emigrate; and tliat emigration, under the 
best auspices, was fer from being unattended with evil. There 
are moral, physical, pecuniary obstacles to all emigration ; and 
these will increase as the good vacant lands of the west are 
removed, by intervening settlements, further and further from 
society, as it is now located. It is, I believe Dr. Johnson who 
pronounces that, of all vegetable and animal creation, man is the 
most difficult to be uprooted and transferred to a distant country; 
and he was right. Space itself— mountains and seas and rivers 
are impediments. The want of pecuniary means — the expenses 
of the outfit, subsistence and transportation of a family — is no 
slight circumstance. When all tiiese difficulties are overcome, 
(and how few, comparatively, can surmount them?) the greatest 
of all remains — that of being torn from one's natal spot ; sepa- 
rated, for ever, from the roof under which the companions of his 
childhood were sheltered, from the trees which have shaded him 
from summer's heats, the spring from whose gushing fountam 
he has (iiamk in his youth, tjie tombs that hold the precious relics 
of his venerated ancestors ! 

But I have said that the land committee had attempted to 
confound the sentiments of Mr. Rash with some of the reasoning 
employed by the committee of manufactures against the proposed 
redaction ot" the price of the public lands. What is that reason- 
ing? here it is: it will speak for itself; and, without a single 
comment, will demonstrate how different it is from that of the 
late Secretary of the Treasury, unexceptionable as that has 
been shown to be. '• The greatest emigration (says the manu- 
facturing committee) that is believed now to take place from any 
of the States, is from Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The 
effects of a material reduction in the price of the public lands 
would be — 1st. To lessen the value of real estate in those three 
States. 2d. To diminish their interest in the public domain, as 
a common fund for the benefit of all the States. And 3d. To 
offer what would operate as a bounty to further emigration from 
those States, occasioning more and more lands, situated within 
them, to be thrown into the market, thereby not only lessening 
the value of their lands, but draining them both of their popula- 
tion and currency." 

There are good men in different parts, but especially in the 
Atlantic portion of the Union, who have been induced to regard 
lightly this vast national property ; who have been persuaded 
that the people of the west are dissatisfied with the administra- 
tion of it ; and who believe that it will, in the end, be lost to the 
nation ; and that it is not worth present care and preservation. 
But these are radical mistakes. The great body of the west are 



240 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

satisfied — perfectly satisfied with the general administration of 
the public lands. They would indeed like, and are entitled to, 
a more liberal expenditure among them of the proceeds of the 
sales. For this provision is made by the bill to which I will 
hereafter call the attention of the senate. But the great body of 
the west have not called for, and understand too well their real 
interest to desire any essential change in the system of survey, 
eale, or price of the lands. There may be a few, stimulated by 
demagogues, who desire change ; and what system is there, what 
government, what order of human society, that a few do not de- 
sire change ? 

It is one of the admirable properties of the existing system that 
it contains within itself and carries along principles of conserva- 
tion and safety. In the progress of its operation, new states be- 
come identified with the old, in feeling, in thinking, and in inter- 
est. Now, Ohio is as sound as any old state in the Union, in all 
her views relating to the public lands. She feels that her share 
in the exterior domain is much more important than would be an 
exclusive right to the ihw millions of acres left unsold, within her 
limits, accompanied by a virtual surrender of her interest in all 
the other public lands of the United States. And I have no 
doubt that now, the people of the other new states, left to their 
own unbiassed sense of equity and justice, would form the same 
judgment. They cannot believe that what they have not bought, 
what remains the property of themselves and all their brethren 
of the United States, in common, belongs to them exclusively. 
But if I am mistaken — if they have been deceived by erroneous 
impressions on their mind, made by artful men, as the sales pro- 
ceed, and the public land is exhausted, and their population in- 
creased, like the state of Ohio, they Avill leel that their true inte- 
rest points to their remaining co-partners in the whole national 
domain, instead of bringing forv^'ard an unlbunded pretension to 
the inconsiderable remnant which will be then left in their own 
limits. 

And now, Mr. President, I have to say something in respect to 
the particular plan brought forward by the committee of manu- 
factures for a temporary appropriation of the proceeds of the 
tales of the public lands. 

The committee say that this fund is not wanted by the gener- 
al government ; that the peace of the country is not likely, from 
present appearances, to be speedily disturbed ; and that the ge- 
neral government is absolutely embarrassed in providing against 
an enormous surplus in the treasury. Whilst this is the condi- 
tion of the federal government, the states are in want of, and can 
most beneficially use, that very surplus, with which we do not 
know what to do. The powers of the general government are 
limited : those of the states are ample. If those limited powers 
authorized an application of the fund to some objects, perhaps 
there are others, of more importance, to which the powers of the 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 241 

states would be more competent, or to which they may apply a 
more provident care. 

But the government of the whole and of the parts, at last, ia 
but one government of the same people. In form they are two, 
in substance one. They both stand under the same solemn ob- 
ligation to promote, by all the powers with which they are re- 
spectively entrusted, the happiness of the people ; and the people, 
in their turn, owe respect and allegiance to both. Maintaining 
these relations, there should be mutual assistance to each other 
afforded by these two systems. When the states are full-handed, 
and the cotTers of tlie general government are empty, the states 
should come to the relief of the general government, as many of 
tliem did, most promptly and patriotically, during the late war. 
When the conditions of the parties are reversed, as is now the 
case, the states wanting what is almost a burthen to the general 
government, the duty of this government is to go to the rehef of 
the states. 

They were views like these whicli induced a majority of the 
committee to propose the plan of distribution contained in the 
bill now under consideration. For one, however, I will again 
repeat the declaration, which I made early in the session, that I 
unite cordially with those who condemn the application of any 
principle of distribution among the several states, to surplus re- 
venue derived from taxation. I think income derived from tax- 
ation stands upon ground totally distinct from that which is re- 
ceived from the public lands. Congress can prevent the accu- 
mulation, at least, for any considerable time, of revenue from 
duties, by suitable legislation, lowering or augmenting the im- 
posts ; but it cannot stop the sales of the public lands, without 
the exercise of arbitrary and intolerable power. The powers of 
Congress over the public lands are broader and more compre- 
hensive than those which they possess over taxation, and the 
money produced by it. 

This brings me to consider 1st, the power of Congress to make 
the distribution. By the second part of the third section of the 
fourth article of the constitution, Congress " have power to dis- 
pose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting 
toe territory or other property of the United States." The pow- 
er of disposition is plenary, unrestrained, unqualified. It is not 
limited to a specified object or to a defined purpose, but left ap- 
plicable to any object or purpose which the wisdom of Congress 
shall deem fit, acting under its high responsibility. 

The government purchased Louisiana and Florida. May it 
not apply the proceeds of lands within those countries to any ob- 
ject which the good of the Union may seem to indicate? If 
there be a restraint in the constitution, where is it, what is it ? 

The uniform practice of the government has conformed to- the 
idea of its possessing full powers over the public lands. They 
have been freely granted, from time to time, to communities and 
21 



212 ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

individuals, for a great variety of purposes. To states for edu- 
cation, internal improvements, public buildings ; to corporations 
for education ; to the deaf and dumb ; to the ndtivators of the 
olive and the vine ; to pre-emptioners ; to Gen. Lafayette, &c. 

The deeds from the ceding states, far from opposing, fully war- 
rant the distribution. That of Virginia ceded the land as " a 
common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States 
as have become, or ;hall become, members of the confederation 
or federal alliance of the said states, Virginia inclusive." The 
cession was for the benefit of all the states. It may be argued 
that the fund must be retained in the common treasure', and 
thence paid out. But by the bUl reported, it will come into the 
common treasury, and then the question liovv it shall be subse- 
quently applied (or the use aud benefit of sitch of the United 
States as compose the confederacy, is one of modus only. Whe- 
ther the money is disbursed by the general government directly, 
or is paid out, upon some equal and just principle, to the states, 
to be disbursed by them, cannot affect the right »f distributioH. 
If tlie general government retained the power of ultimate dis- 
bursement, it could execute it only by suitable agents ; and what 
agency is more suitable than that of the states themselves ? If 
the states expend the money, as the bill contemplates, the expen- 
diture will, in effect, be a disbursement lor the benefit of the 
v/hole, although the several states are the organs of the expen- 
diture ; for the whole and all the parts, are identical. And what- 
ever redounds to the benefit of all the parts necessarily contrib- 
utes, in the same measure, to the benefit of the whole. The great 
question should be, is the distribution upon equal and just prin- 
ciples ? And this brings me to consider, 

2d. The terms of the distribution proposed by the bill of the 
committee of manufactures. The bill proposes a division of the 
iiett proceeds of the sales of the public lands, among the several 
states composing the Union, according to their federal represen- 
tative population, as ascertained by the last census ; and it pro- 
vides lor new states that may hereafter be admitted into the 
Union. The basis of the distribution, therefore, is derived from 
the constitution itseltj which has adopted the same rule, in respect 
to representation and direct taxes. None could be more just and 
equitable. 

But it has been contended, in the land report, that the revo- 
lutionary states which did not cede their public lands, ought not 
to be allowed to come into the distribution. This objection 
does not apply to the purchases of Louisiana and Florida, be- 
cause the consideration for them was paid out of the common 
treasury, and was consequently contributed by all the states. 
Nor has the objection any just foundation, when applied to the 
public lands derived from Virginia and tlie other ceding states ; 
because, by the terms of the deeds, the cessions were made for 
the use and benefit of all the states. The ceding states having 
made no exception of any state, what right has the general gov- 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 24'3 

ernment to interpolate in the deeds, and now create an excep- 
tion? The general government is a mere trustee, holding the 
domain in virtue of those deeds, according to the terms and 
conditions which they expressly describe ; and it is bound to ex- 
ecute the trust accordingly. But how is the fund produced by 
the public lands now expended ? It comes into the common 
treasury, and is disbursed for the common benefit, without ex- 
ception of any state. The bill only proposes to substitute to that 
object, now no longer necessary, another and more useful com- 
mon object. The general appUcation of the fund will continue, 
under the operation of the bill, allhough the particular purposes 
may be varied. 

The equity of the proposed distribution, as it respects the two 
classes of states, the old and the new, must be manifest to the 
senate. It proposes to assign to the new states, besides the five 
per cent, stipulated for in their several compacts with the gene- 
ral government, the further sum of ten per cent, upon the nett 
proceeds. Assuming the proceeds of the last year, amounting to 
$3,566,127 94, as the basis of the calculation, I hold in my 
hand a paper which shows the sum that each of the seven new 
states would receive. They have complained of the exemption 
from taxation of the public lands sold by the general govern- 
ment for five years after the sale. If that exemption did not 
exist, and they were to exercise tha power of taxing those lands, 
as the average increase of their population is only eight and 
a half per cent, per annum, the additional revenue which they 
would raise would only be eight and a half per cent, per annum ; 
that is to say, a state now collecting a revenue of $100,000 per 
annum, v/ould collect only $108,500, if it were to tax lands recent- 
ly sold. But by the bill under consideration, each of the seven 
new states will annually receive, as its distributive share, more 
than the whole amount of its annual revenue. 

It may be thought that to set apart ten per cent, to the newt 
states, in the first instance, is roo great a proportion, and is un- 
just towards the old states. But it will be recollected that, aa 
they populate much faster than the old states, and as the last 
census is to govern in the apportionment, they ought to receive 
more than the old states. If they receive too much at the com- 
mencement of the term, it may be neutralized by the end of it. 

After the deduction shall have been made of the fifteen per 
cent, allotted to the new states, the residue is to be divided 
among the twenty-lour states, old and new, composing the Union. 
What each of the states would receive, is shown by a table an- 
nexed to the report. Taking the proceeds of the last year as the 
standard, there must be added one-sixth to what is set down in 
that table as the proportion of the several states. 

If the power and the principle of the proposed distribution be 
satisfactory to the senate, I think the objects cannot fail to be 
equally so. They are education, internal improvements, and 
colonization — all great and beneficent objects — all national in 



PAi ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

their nature. No mind can be cultivated and improved ; no 
work of internal improvement can be executed in any part ol" 
the Union, nor any person of color transported from any of its 
ports, in which the whole Union is not interested. The prospe- 
rity of the whole is an aggregate of the prosperity of the parts. 

The states, each judging for itself, will select among the ob- 
jects enumerated in the bill, that which comports best with its 
own policy. There is no compulsion in the choice. Some will 
prefer, perhaps, to apply the fund to the extinction of debt, now 
burdensome, created for internal improvements ; some to new 
objects of internal improvement; others to education; and others 
again to colonization. It may be supposed possible that the 
states will divert the fund from the specified purposes: but 
against such a misapplication we have, in the first place, the 
security which arises out of their presumed good faith; and, in 
the second, the power to withhold subsequent, if there has been 
any abuse in previous appropriations. 

It has been argued that the general government has no power 
in respect to colonization. Waiving that, as not being a ques- 
tion at this time, the real inquiry is, have the states themselves 
any such power 1 For it is to the states that the subject is referred. 
The evil of a free black population is not restricted to particular 
states, but extends to and is felt by all. It is not therefore, the 
slave question, but totally distinct from and unconnected with 
it. I have heretofore often expressed my perfect conviction that 
the general government has no constitutional power which it 
can exercise in regard to African slavery. That conviction re- 
mains unchanged. The stales in which slavery is tolerated, 
have exclusively in their own hands the entire regulation of the 
subject. But the slav^e states differ in opinion as to the expedi- 
ency of Ali-ican colonization. Several of them have signified 
their approbation of it. The legislature of Kentucky, I believe 
unanimously, recommended the encouragement of colonization 
10 Congress. 

Should a war break out during the term of five years, that the 
operation of the bill is limited to, the fund is to be withdrawn 
and applied to the vigorous prosecution of the war. If there 
be no war, Congress, at the end of the term, will be able to 
ascertain whether the money has been beneficially expended, and 
to judge of the propriety of continuing the distribution. 

Three reports have been made, on this great subject of the 
public lands, during the present session of Congress, besides that 
of the secretary of the treasury at its commencement — two in 
the senate and one in the house. All three of them agree, 1st, 
in the preservation of the control of the general government 
over the public lands ; and 2d, they concur in rejecting the plan 
of a cession of the public lands to the states in which they are 
situated, recommended by the secretary. The land committee 
of the senate propose an assignment of fifteen per cent, of the 
nett proceeds, besides the five per cent, stipulated in the com- 



i 



ON THE PUBLIC LAxNDS 245 

pacts, (making together twenty per cent.) to the new states, and 
nothing to the old. 

The committee of manufactures of the senate, after an allot- 
ment of an additional sum of ten per cent, to the new states, 
proposes an equal distribution of the residue among all the 
states, old and new, upon equitable principles. 

The senate's land committee, besides the proposal of a distri- 
bution, restricted to the new states, recommends an immediate 
reduction of the price of " fresh lands," to a minimum of one dol- 
lar per acre, and to fifty cents per acre for lands which have 
been five years or upwards in mari<et." 

The land committee of the house is opposed to all distribution, 
general or partial, and recommends a reduction of the price to 
one dollar per acre. 

And now, Mr. President, I have a ?ew words more to say and 
shall be done. We are admonished by all our reflections, and 
by existing signs, of the duty of communicating strength and 
energy to the glorious Union which now encircles our favored 
country. Among the ties which bind us together, the public 
domain merits high consideration. And if we appropriate, for 
a limited time, the proceeds of that great reso\irce, among the 
several states, for the important objects which have been enu- 
merated, a ncAv and powerful bond of affection and of interest 
will be added. The states will feel and recognize the operation 
of the general government, not merely in power and burdens, 
but in benefactions and blessings. And the general government 
in its turn will feel, from the expenditure of the money which it 
dispenses to the states, the benefits of moral and intellectual 
improvement of the people, of greater faciUty in social and com- 
mercial intercourse, and of the purification of the population of 
our country, tliemselves the best parental sources of national 
character, national Union, and national greatness. Whatever 
may be the iato of the particular proposition novv under consid- 
eration, I sincerely hope that the attention of the nation may 
be attracted to this most interesting subject ; that it may justly 
appreciate the value of this immense national property; and that, 
preserving the regulation of it by the will of the whole, for the 
advantage of the whole, it may be transmitted, as a sacred and 
inestimable succession, to posterity, for its benefit and blessing 
for ages to come. 
21* 



246 



ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



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ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 247 

STATEMENT showing the dividend of each state, (^according 
to its federal population), in the proceeds of the public lands, 
after deducting therefrom fifteen per cent, as an additional di- 
vidend for the states in which the public land is situated. 
[Estimated proceeds of lands, $3,000,000 ; deduct fifteen per 

ceat. $450,000, and $2,500,000 remains to be divided among all 

the states according to their population.] 

STATES. I 

Maine, - - - - 
New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, 

Vermont, - _ - 

Rhode Island, - - - 

Connecticut, - - - 

New-York, - . - 

New Jersey, - - - 

Pennsylvania, - - - 

Delaware, - - - 

Maryland, - - - 

Virginia, - - - - 
North Carolina,' 
South Carolina, 

Georgia, - - - - 

Alabama, - - - - 

Mississippi, - - - 

Louisiana, . - - 

Tennessee, - - - 

Kentucky, . - - 

Ohio, - . . . 

Indiana, - - - . 

Illinois, - - - - 

Missouri, - - - - 

11,928,731 



deral population. 
1830. 


Shares in proceeds of 
publiclands. 


399,437 
269,326 


$85,387 48 
57,573 71 


610,408 


130,487 59 


280,657 


59,995 93 


97,194 


20,777 12 


297,665 


63,631 72 


1,918.553 
319,922 


410,128 29 
68,389 59 


1,348,072 

75,432 

405,843 


288,176 64 
15,202 93 
86,756 89 


1,023,503 


218,793 82 


639,747 


136,758 45 


455.025 
429,811 


97,270 51 
91,880 52 


262,508 


56,116 22 


110,358 


23,591 19 


171,694 


36,702 95 


625,263 


133,662 21 


621,832 


132,928 77 


935,884 


200,063 54 


343,031 


73,329 59 


157,147 


33,593 25 


130,419 


27,879 68 



348 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. . J 

ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

February 12, 1833. 

Mr. Clay rose and addressed the senate to the following eP- 
feet — 

I yesterday, sir, gave notice that I should ask leave to intro- 
duce a bill to modify the various acts imposing duties on imports. 
I, at the same time, added, that I should, with the permission of 
the senate, offer an explanation of the principle on which that 
bill is founded. I owe, sir, an apology to the senate for this 
course of action, because, although strictly parliamentary, it is, 
nevertheless, out of the usual practice of this body ; but it is a 
course which I trust that the senate will deem to be justified by 
the interesting nature of the subject I rise, sir, on this occasion, 
actuated by no motives of a private nature, by no personal feel- 
ings, and for no personal objects ; but exclusively in obedience 
to a sense of the duty which I owe to my country. I trust, there- 
fore, that no one will anticipate on my part any ambitious dis- 
play of such humble powers as I may possess. It is sincerely 
my purpose to present a plain, unadorned, and nailed statement 
of facts connected witli the measure which I shall liave the hon- 
or to propose, and with the condition of the country. When I 
survey, sir, the whole face of our country, I behold all around me 
evidences of the most gratifying prosperity, a prospect which 
would seem to be without a cloud upon it, were it not that through 
all parts of the country there exist great dissensions and unhap- 
py distinctions, which, if they can possibly be relieved and recon- 
ciled by any broad scheme of legislation adapted to all interests, 
and regarding the feelings of all sections, ought to be quieted ; 
and leading to which object any measure ought to be well re- 
ceived. 

In presenting the modification of the tariff laws, which I am 
now about to submit, I have two great objects in view. My first 
object looks to the tariff. I am compelled to express the opinion, 
formed after the most deliberate reflection, and on full survey of 
the whole country, that whether rightfully or wrongfully, the ta- 
riff stands in imminent danger. If it should even be preserved 
during this session, it must fall at the next session. By what cir- 
cumstances, and through what causes, has arisen the necessity 
for this change in tlie policy of our country, I will not pretend 
now to elucidate. Others there are who may differ from the im- 
pressions which my mind has received upon this point. Owing, 
however, to a variety of concurrent causes, the tariff, as it now 
exists, is in imminent danger, and if the system can be preserved 
beyond the next session, it must be by some means not now with- 
in the reach of human sagacity. The fall of that policy, sir, 
would be productive of consequences calamitous indeed. When 
I look to the variety of interests which are involved, to the num- 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 249 

ber of individuals interested, the amount of capital invested, the 
value of the buildings erected, and the whole arrangement of the 
business for the prosecution of the various branches of the man- 
ufacturing art which have sprung up under the fostering care of 
this government, I cannot contemplate any evil equal to the sud- 
den overthrow of all those interests. History can produce no 
parallel to the extent of the mischief which would be produced 
by such a disaster. The repeal of the edict of Nantes itself was 
nothing in comparison with it. That condemned to exile and 
brought to ruin a great number of persons. The most respecta- 
ble portion of the population of France was condemned to exile 
and ruin by that measure. But in my opinion, sir, the sudden 
repeal of the tariff policy would bring ruin and destruction on 
the w^hole people of this country. There is no evil, in my opin- 
ion, equal to the consequences which would result from such a 
catastrophe. 

What, sir, are the complaints which unhappily divide the 
people of this great country. On the one hand, it is said by 
those who ai'e opposed to the tariff, that it unjustly taxes a por- 
tion of the people, and paralyzes their industry; that it is to be 
a perpetual operation ; that there is to be no end to the system ; 
which, right or v/rong, is to be urged to their inevitable ruin. 
And what is the just complaint, on the other hand, of those who 
support the tariff? It is, that the policy of the government is 
vacillating and uncertain, and that there is no stability in our 
legislation. Before one set of books are fairly opened, it becomes 
necessary to close them, and to open a new set. Before a law 
can be tested by experiment, another is passed. Before the 
present law has gone into operation — before it is yet nine months 
old — passed, as it was, under circumstances of extraordinary 
deliberation, the fruit of nine months labor — before we know 
any thing of its experimental effects, and even before it com- 
mences its operations, we are required to repeal it. On one side 
we are urged to repeal a system which is fraught with ruin; on 
the other side, the check now imposed on enterprize, and the 
state of alarm in which the public mind has been thrown, ren- 
ders all prudent men desirous, looking ahead a little way, to 
adopt a state of things, on the stability of which they may have 
reason to count. Such is the state of feeling on the one side 
and on the other. I am anxious to find out some principle of 
mutual accommodation, to satisfy, as far as practicable, both 
parties — to increase the stability of our legislation; and at some 
distant day — but not too distant, when we take into view the 
magnitude of the interests which are involved — to bring down 
the rate of duties to that revenue standard for which our oppo- 
nents have so long contended. The basis on which I wish to 
found this modification, is one of time; and the several parts of 
the bill to which I am about to call the attention of the Senate, 
are founded on this basis. I propose to give protection to oar 
manufactured articles, adequate protection, for a length of time. 



S50 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

which, compared with the length of human life, is very long, but 
which is short, in proportion to the legitimate discretion of every 
wise and parental system of government — securing the stability 
of legislation, and allowing time for a gradual reduction, on one 
side; and on the other, proposing to reduce the duties to that 
revenue standard for which the opponents of the system have so 
long contended. I will now proceed to lay the provisions of this 
bill before the Senate, with a view to draw their attention to the 
true character of the bill. 

Mr. C. then proceeded to read the first section of the bill, in 
tlie words in which it will be found below. According to this 
section, he said it would be perceived that it was proposed to 
come down to the revenue standard at the end of little more 
than nine years and a half, giving a protection to our own 
manufactures which he hoped would be adequate, during the 
intermediate time. Mr. C. recapitulated the provisions of the 
sections, and showed by various illustrations how they would 
operate. 

Mr. C. then proceeded to read and comment upon the second 
section of the bill, as recited below. It would be recollected, he 
said, that at the last session of Congress, with a view to make 
a concession to tJie soutiicrn section of the country, low priced 
woollens, those supposed to enter into the consumption of slaves 
and the poorer classes of persons, were taken out of the general 
€lass of duties on woollens, and the duty on them reduced to 
five per cent. It would be also recollected tliat at that time the 
gentlemen from the south had said that tills concession was of 
no consequence, and that tliey did not care lor it, and he believed 
that they did not now consider it of any greater importance. 
As, therefore, it had failed of the purpose for which it was taken 
out of the common class, he thought it ought to be brought back 
again, and placed by the side of the other descriptions of wool- 
lens, and made subject to the same reduction of duty as proposed 
by this section. 

Having next read through the third section of the bill, Mr. C. 
said that, after the expiration of a term of years, this section 
laid down a rule by which the duties were to be reduced to the 
revenue standard, which had been so long and so earnestly con- 
tended for. Until otherwise directed, and in default of provision 
being made for the wants of the government in 1S42, a rule 
was thus provided for the rate of duties thereafter. Congress 
being in the mean time authorized to adopt any other rule 
which the exigencies of the country, or its financial condition, 
might require. Tliat is to say, if, instead of the duty of twenty 
per cent, proposed, fifteen or seventeen per cent, of duty was 
sufficient, or twenty-five per cent, should be found necessary, to 
produce a revenue to defray the expenses of an economical ad- 
ministration of the government, there was nothing to prevent 
either of those rates, or any other, from being fixed upon ; whilst 
the rate of tvveuty per cent, was introduced to guard against 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 251 

any failure on the part of Congress to make the requisite pro- 
vision in due season. 

This section of the bill, Mr. C. said, contained also another 
clause, suggested by that spirit of harmony and conciliation 
which he prayed might preside over the councils of the Union 
at this trying moment. It provided (what those persons who 
are engaged in manulactures have so long anxiously required 
for then- security) that duties shall be paid in reatly money — and 
we shall thus get rid of the whole of that credit system, into 
which an inroad was made, in regard to woollens, by the act of 
the last session. This section further contained a proviso that 
nothing in any part of tiiis act should be construed to interfere 
with the freest exercise of the power of Congress to lay any 
amount of duties, in the event of war breaking out between 
this country and any foreign power. 

Mr. C. having then read the fourth section of the bill, said 
that one of the considerations strongly urged for a reduction 
of the tariff at this time was, that, the government was likely to 
be placed in a dilemma by having an overflowing revenue ; and 
this apprehension was the ground of an attempt totally to change 
the protective policy of the country. The section which he had 
read, Mr. C. said, was an efiiart to guard against this evil, by 
relieving altogether from duty a portion of the articles of import 
now subject to it. Some of these, he said, would, under tlie 
present rate of duty upon them, produce a considerable revenue; 
the article of silks alone would probably yield half h million of 
dollars per annum. If it were possible to pacify present dissen- 
f-'ions, and let things take their course, he believed that no difli- 
culty need be apprehended. If, said he, the bill which this body 
passed at the last session of Congress, and has again passed at 
this session, shall pass the other House, and become a law, and 
the gradual reduction of duties should take place which is con- 
templated by the first section of this bill, we shall have settled 
two (if not three) of the great questions which have agitated 
this country, that of the tariff, of the public lands, and, I will 
add, of internal improvement also. For, if there should still be 
a surplus revenue, that surplus might be applied, until the year 
1S42, to the completion of the works of internal improvement 
already commenced; and, after 1842, a reliance lor all funds for 
purposes of internal improvement should be placed upon the 
operation of the land bill, to which he had already referred. 

It was not his object, Mr. C. said, in referring to that measure 
in connexion with that which he was about to propose, to con- 
sider them as united in their fate, being desirous, partial as he 
might be to both, that each should stand or fall upon its own in- 
trinsic merits. If this section of the bill, adding to the number 
of free articles, should become law, along with the reduction of 
duties proposed by the first section of the bill, it was by no means 
sure that we should have any surplus revenue at all. He had 
been astonished indeed at the process of reasoning by which 



852 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

the secretary of the treasury had arrived at the conclusion that 
we should have a surplus revenue at all, though he admitted 
that such a conclusion could be arrived at in no other way. But 
what was this process? Duties of a certain rate now exist. 
The amount which they produce is known ; the secretary, pro- 
posing a reduction of the rate of duty, supposes that the duties 
will be reduced in proportion to the amount of the reduction of 
duty. Now, Mr. C. said, no calculation could be more uncertain 
than that. Though perhaps, the best that the secretary could 
have made, it was still all uncertainty; dependent upon the 
winds and the waves, on the mutations of trade, and on the 
course of commercial operations. If there was any tratli in 
political economy, it could not be that the result would agre^ 
with the prediction ; for we are instructed by ail experience that 
the consumption of any article is in proportion to tiie reduction 
of its price, and that in general it may be taken as a rule, that 
the duty upon an article forms a portion of its price. Mr. C. 
said he did not mean to impute any improper design to any one; 
but, if it had been so intended, no scheme for getting rid of the 
tariff could have been more artfully devised to effect its purposes, 
than that which thus calculated the revenue, and in addition, 
assumed that the expenditure of the government every year 
would be so much, &c. Could any one here say what tlie 
future expenditure of the government would be? In this youag, 
great, and growing community, can we say what will be the ex- 
penditure of the government even a year hence, much less what 
it will be, three, or four, or five years hence ? Yet it had been 
estimated, on assumed amounts, founded on such uncertain data, 
both of income and expenditure, that the revenue might be re- 
duced so many millions a year ! 

Mr. C. asked pardon for this digression, and returned to the 
examination of articles in the fourth section, which were proposed 
to be left free of duty. The duties on these articles, he said, now 
varied from five to ten per cent., ad valorem ; but low as they 
were, the aggregate amount of revenue which they produced 
was considerable. By the bill of the last session, the duties on 
French silks was fixed at five per cent., and that on Chinese 
silks at ten per cent., ad valorem. By the bill now proposed, the 
duty on French silks was proposed to be repealed, leaving the 
other untouched. He would frankly state why he made this 
distinction. It had been a subject of anxious desire with him 
to see our commerce with B^ance increased. France, though 
not so large a customer in the great staples of our country as 
Great Britain, was a great growing customer. He had been 
much struck with a fact going to prove this, which accidentally 
came to his knowledge the other day ; which was, that within 
the short period of fourteen years, the amount of consumption in 
France of the great southern staple of cotton had been tripled. 
Again, it was understood that the French silks of the lower 
grades of quality could not sustain a competition with tlie Chinese 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 253 

without some discrimination of this sort. He had understood, 
also, that the duty imposed upon this article at the last session 
had been very much complained of on the part of France ; and, 
considering all the circumstances connected with the relatione 
between the two governments, it appeared to him desirable 
to make this discrimination in favor of the French product. If 
the Senate should think differently, he should be content. If 
indeed, they should think proper to strike out this section alto- 
gether, he should cheerfully submit to their decision. 

After reading tiie hfth and sixth sections : 

Mr. Clay said, he would now take a few of some of the ob- 
jections which would be made to the bill. It might be said that 
the act was prpspective, ihat it bound our successors, and that 
we had no power thus to bind them. It was true that the act 
was prospective, and so was almost every act which we ever 
]5assed, but we could repeal it the next day. It v/as the estab- 
lished usage to give all acts a prospective operation. In every 
tariff law there were some provisions whicii go iuto operation 
immediately, and others at a future time. Each Congress legis- 
lated according to their own views of propriety ; their acts did 
not bind their successors, but created a species of public faith 
which would not rashly be broken. But, if this bill should go 
info operation, as he hoped even against hope, that it might, he 
had not a doubt that it would be adhered to by all parties. There 
was but one contingency which would render a change necessary, 
and that Avas the intervention of a war, which Avas provided for 
in the bill. The hands of Congress v/cre left untied in this event, 
and they would be at liberty to resort to any mode of taxaliou 
Avhich ihey might propose. But, i!'we suppose peace to continue, 
there would be no motive for disturbing the arrangement, but 
on the contrar}', every motive to carry it into effect. In thy 
next place, it v/ill be objected to the bill, by the friends of the 
protective policy, of whom he held himsell' to be one, for his 
mind was immutably fixed in favor of that policy, that it aba.n- 
doned the power of protection. But, he contended, in the first 
place, that a suspension of the exercise of the power was not an 
abandonment of it ; lor the power was in the constitution accor- 
ding to our theory — was put there by its framers, and could only 
be dislodged by the people. After the year 1S42, the bill pro- 
vided that the power should be exercised in a certain mode. 
There were four modes by which the industry of the country 
could be protected. 

First, the absolute prohibition of rival foreign articles that was 
totally unattempted by the bill ; but it was competent to the 
wisdom of the government to exert the power whene 'er they 
wished. Second, the imposition of duties in such a manner as to 
have no reference to any object but revenue. When we had a 
large public debt in 1816, the duties yielded thirty-seven millions, 
and paid so much more of the debt, and subsequently they yielded 
22 



254 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

but eight or ten millions, and paid so much leas of the debt. 
Sometimes we had to trench on the sinking lund. Now we have 
no public debt to absorb the surplus revenue^ and no motive for 
continuing the duties. No man can look at the condition of the 
country and say that we can carry on this system, with accumu- 
lating revenue, and no practicable way of expending it. The 
third mode was attempted last session, in a resolution which he 
had the honor to submit last year, and which in fact ultimately 
formed the basis of the act which finally passed both houses. 
This was to raise as much revenue as was wanted for the use 
of the government and no more, but to raise it from the protected 
and not from the improtected articles. He would say that he re- 
gretted most deeply that the greater part of the country would not 
suffer this principle to prevail. It ought to ])revail — and the day, 
in his opinion, would come when it would be adopted as the 
permanent policy of the country. Shall we legislate for our 
own wants or that of a foreign country ? To protect our own 
interests in opposition to foreign legislation was the basis of this 
system. The fourth mode in which protection could be afforded 
to domestic industry was to admit free of duty every article 
which aided the operations of the manufacturers. These were 
the four modes tor protecting our industry; and to those who say 
that the bill abandons the power of protection, he would reply 
that it did not touch that power ; and that the fourth mode, so 
far from being abandoned, is extended and upheld by the bill. 
The most that can be objected to the bill by those with whom 
he had co-operated to support the protective system, was that, 
in consideration of nine and a half years of peace, certainty and 
stability, the manufacturers relinquished some advantages which 
tliey now enjoyed. What was the principle whicli had alway.s 
been contended for in this and in the other house? That, after the 
accumulation of capital and skill, the manufacturers would stand 
alone, vmaided by the government, in competition with the im- 
ported articles from any quarter. Now give us time ; cease all 
fluctuations and agitations, for nine years, and the manufacturers, 
in every branch, will sustain themselves against foreign compe- 
tition. If we can see our Avay clearly for nine years to come, 
we can safely leave to posterity to provide for the rest. If the 
tariff be overthrown, as may be its fate next session, the country 
will be plunged into extreme distress and agitation. I, said Mr. 
Clay, want liarmony. I wish to see the restoration of those ties 
which have carried us triumphantly tiirough two wars. I de- 
light not in this perpetual turmoil. Let us have peace, and be- 
come once more united as a band of brothers. 

It may be said that the farming interest cannot subsist under 
a twenty per cent, ad v.ilorcm duty. His reply was, "sufficient 
for the day is the evil thereof" He would leave it to the day 
when the rcdoction took cflect, to settle the question. When the 
reduction takes place, and the farmer cannot live under it, Aviiat 
■.:'ill he do ? I will tell you, said I\Ir. Clay, what he ought to do. 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 255 

He ought to try it — make a fair experiment of it — and if he can- 
not live under it, let him come here and say that he is bankrupt, 

and ruined. If then nothing can be done to relieve him sir, 

I will not pronounce the words, for I will believe that somethino" 
will be done, and that relief will be aflbrded, Avithout hazarding 
the peace and integrity of the Union. This confederacy is an 
excellent contrivance, but it must be managed with delicacy and 
skill. There were an infinite variety of prejudices and local in- 
terests to be regarded, but they should all be made to yield to 
the Union. 

If the system proposed cannot be continued, let us try some 
intermediate system, before we think of any other dreadful alter- 
native. Sir, it will be said, on the other hand — for the objections 
are made by the friends of protection principally — that the time 
is too long ; that the intermediate reductions are too inconsidera- 
ble, and that there is no guarantee that, at the end of the time 
stipulated, the reduction proposed Avould be allowed to take ef- 
fect. In the first place, should be recollected, the diversified inte- 
rests of the country — the measures of the government vv'hich pre- 
ceded the establishment of manufactures — the public fairh in some 
degree pledged for their security ; and the ruin in which ra&h and 
hasty legislation would involve them. He Avould not dispute 
about terms. It would not, in a court of justice, be maintained 
that the public faith was pledged for the protection of maimfac- 
tures; but there were other pledges which men of honor are 
bound by, besides those of which the law can take cognizance. 

If we excite, in our neighbor, a reasonable expectation which 
induces him to take a particular course of business, we are in 
honor bound to redeem the pledge thus tacitly given. Can any 
man doubt that a large portion of our citizens believed that the 
system would be permanent? The whole country expected it. 
The security against any change of the system proposed by the 
bill, was in the character of the bill, as a compromise between 
two conflicting parties. If the bill should be taken by common 
consent, as we hope it will be — the history of the revenue will 
be a guarantee of its permanence. The circumstances under 
which it was passed will be known and recorded — and no one 
will disturb a system which was adopted with a view to give 
peace and tranquillity to the country. 

The descending gradations by which he proposed to arrive at 
the minimum of duties, must be gradual. He never would con- 
sent to any precipitate operation to bring distress and ruin on the 
community. 

Now, said Mr. C. viewing it in this light, it appeared that there 
were eight years and a half, and nine years and a half, taking 
the ultimate time, which would be an efficient protection, the 
remaining duties would be withdrawn by a biennial reduction. 
The protective principle must be said to be, in some measure, 
relinquished at the end of eight years and a half. This period 
cauld not appeaj unreasonable, and he thought that no member 



256 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

of the Senate, or any portion of the country, ought to make the 
slightest ohjcction. It now remained for him to consider the 
other objection — the want of a guarantee to there being an ulte- 
rior continuance of the duties imposed by the bill, on the expira- 
tion of Ihe term which it prescribes. The best guarantees would 
be found in the circumstances under which the mc'asure would 
be passed. If it was passed by common consent; if it was pass- 
ed with the assent of a portion — a considerable portion of those 
who had directly hilherto supported this system, and by a con- 
siderable portioii of those who opposed it — if they declared their 
satisfaction with the measure, he had no doubt the rate of duties 
guarantied, would be continued after the expiration oi' the term, 
if the country continued at peace. And, at the end of the term, 
when the experiment woukl have been made of the efficiency of 
the mode of protection fixed by the bill, while the constitutional 
question had been suti'ered to lie dormant, if war should render 
it necessary, protection might be carried up to prohibition ; while 
if the country should remain at peace, and this measure go into 
full operation, the duties would be gradually lowered down to 
the revenue standard, which had been so earnestly wished lor. 

But suppose that he was wrong in all these views, for there 
W'Cre no guarantees, in one sense of the term, of human inialli- 
biUty. Suppose a different state of things in the south — tltat this 
Senate, from causes which he should not dwell upon now, but 
which were obvious to every reflecting man in this country — 
causes which had operated for years past, and which continued 
to operate — suppose, ibr a moment, that there should be a ma- 
jority in ihc Senate in favor of the southern views, and that they 
should repeal the whole system at once, what guarantee would 
Vv'e have that the repealing of the law would not destroy those 
great interests which it is so important to preserve ? What gua- 
rantee would you have that the thunders of those powerful man- 
ufacturers would not be directed against your capitol, because 
of this abandonment of their interests, and because you had giv- 
en them no protection against foreign legislation. Sir. said Mr. 
C. if you carry your measure of repeal without the consent, at 
least, ol' a portion of those who are interested in the preservation 
of manufactures, you have no security, no guarantee, no certain- 
ty, that any protection will be continued. But if the measure 
should be carried by the common consent of both parties, we shall 
have all security ; history will faithfully record tiie transaction ; 
narrate under what circumstances the bill was passed ; that it 
was a pacifying measure ; that it was as oil poured from the ves- 
sel of the Union to restore peace and harmony to the country. 
When all this was known, what Congress, what Legislature, 
would mar the guarantee 1 Wliat man who is entitled to de- 
serve the character of an American statesman, would stand up 
in his place in either house of Congress and disturb this treaty 
of peace and amity ? 

Sir, said Mr. C, I will not say that it may not be disturbed. 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 257 

All tliat I say is, that here is all the reasonable security that can 
be desired by tliose on the one Bide ol' the question, and nrruch 
more tlian those on the other would have by any unibrtunate 
concurrence of circumstances. Such a repeal of the whole sys- 
tem should be brought about as would be cheeriuUy acquiesced 
in by all parties in thia country. All parties might find in this 
measure some reasons ibr objection. And what human measure 
was there which was tree ironi objectionable qualities? It had 
been remarked, and justly remarked, by the great lather of our 
country himself, that if that great work which is the charter of 
our liberties, and under which we have so long flourished, had 
been submitted, article by article, to all the diflierent states com- 
posing this Union, that the whole would have been rejected ; and 
yet, when the whole was presented together, it was accepted as 
a whole. He (Mr. C.) would admit that his friends did not get 
all they could wish for ; and the gentlemen on tlie other side did 
not obtain all they might desire ; but both would gain all that in 
his humble opinion was proper to be given in the present condi- 
tion of this country. It might be true that there would be loss 
and gain in this measure. But how was this loss and gain dis- 
tributed? Among our countrymen. What we lose, no Ibreign 
hand gains ; and Avhat we gain, has been no loss to any foreign 
power. It is among ourselves the distribution takes place. The 
distribution is lounded on that great principle of compromise and 
concession which lies at the bottom of our institutions, which 
gave birth to the constitution itself, and which has continued to 
regulate us in our cnward march, and conducted the nation to 
glory and renown. 

It remained for him now to touch another topic. Objections 
had been made to all legislation at this session of Congress, re- 
Rulting from the attitude of one of the states of this coniederacy. 
He confessed that he felt a very strong repugnance to any legis- 
lation at all on this subject at the commencement of the session, 
principally because he misconceived the purposes, as he had 
found from subsequent explanation, which that state had in view. 
Under the influence of more accurate information, he must say 
that the aspect of things since the commencement of the session 
had, in his opinion, greatly changed. When he came to take 
his seat on that floor, he had supposed that a member of this 
Union had taken an attitude of defiance and hostility againfet tlie 
authority of the general government. He had imagined that she 
had arrogantly required that we should abandon at once a sys- 
tem which had long been the settled policy of this country. 
Supposing that she had manifested this feeling, and taken up 
this position, he (Mr. C.) had, in consequence, I'elt a disposition 
to hurl defiance back again, and to impress upon her the neces- 
sity of the performance of lier duties as a member of this Union. 
But since his arrival here, he found that South Carolina did not 
eontemplate force, for it was denied and denounced by that state. 
22* 



258 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

She disclaimed it — and asserted that she is merely making an 
experiment. That experiment is this : by a course of state legis- 
lation, and by a change in her fundamental laws, siie is endea- 
voring by her civil tribunals to prevent the general government 
from carrying the laws of the United States into operation with- 
in her limits. That she has professed to be her object. Her 
appeal was not to arms, but to another power ; not to the sword, 
but to the law. He must say, and he would say it with no in- 
tention of disparaging that state, or any other of the states — it 
was a feeling unworthy of her. As the purpose of South Caro- 
lina was not that of Ibrce, this at once disarmed, divested legis- 
lation of one principal objection, which it appeared to him existed 
against il; at tlie commencement of this session. Her purposes 
are all of a civil nature. She thinks she can oust the United 
States from her limits; and unquestionably she had tal<en good 
care to prepare her judges beforehand by swearing them to de- 
cide in her lavor. It' we submitted to her, we should thus stand 
but a poor chance of obtaining justice. Slie disclaimed any in- 
tention of resorting to force unless we should find it indispensa- 
ble to execute the laws of the Union by applying ibrce to her. It 
seemed to him the aspect of the attitude of South Carolina had 
changed — or rather, the new light which he had obtained, ena- 
bled him to see her in a dift'crent attitude — and he had not truly 
understood her until she had passed her law'S, by wliicii it was 
intended to carry her ordinance into eflect. Now, he ventured 
to predict that the state to which he had referred must ultimately 
fail in her attempt. He disclaimed any intention of saying any 
thing to the disparagement of that state. Far from it. He 
thought that she had been rash, intemperate and greatly in er- 
ror; and to use the language of one of her own writers — made 
up an issue unworthy of her. He thought the verdict and judg- 
ment must go against her. From one end to the other of lliis conti- 
nent, by acclamation, as it were, nullification had been put down, 
and put down in a manner more eli'ectually than by a thousand 
wars or a thousand armies ; by the irresistible ibrce, by the mighty 
influence of public opinion. Not a voice beyond the single state of 
South Carolina had been heard in favor of the principle of nul- 
lification, which she has asserted by her own ordinance ; and he 
would say^ that she must fail in her lawsuit. He would express 
two opinioivs ; the first of Avhich was, that it is not possible ibr 
the ingenuity of man to devise a system of state legislation to 
del'eat the execution of the laws of the United States, which could 
not be countervailed by federal legislation. 

A state might take it upon herself to throw obstructions in the 
way of the execution of the laws of the lederal government; but 
federal legislation can follow at her heel quickly, and success- 
fully counteract the course of state legislation. The Iramers of 
the constitution Ibresaw this, and the constitution has guarded 
against it. What lias it said? It is declared, in the clause enu- 
merating the powers of this government, that Congress shall 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 259 

have all power to carry into effect all the powers granted by the 
constitution, in any branch of the government under the sweep- 
ing clause — for they have not specified contingencies, because 
they could not see what was to happen — but whatever powers 
were necessary, all, all are given to this government by the fun- 
damental law, necessary to carry into effect those powers which 
are vested by that constitution in the federal government. That 
is one reason. The other is, that it is not possible for any state, 
provided this government is administered with prudence and 
propriety, so to shape its laws as to throw upon the general 
government the responsibility of first resofting to the employ- 
ment of force; but, if force at all is employed, it must be by 
state legislation, and not federal legislation ; and the responsi- 
bility of employing that force must rest with, and attach to, the 
state itself. 

I (said Mr. C.) shall not go into the details of this bill. I 
merely throw out these sentiments for the purpose of showing 
you that South Carolina, having declared her purpose to be this, 
to make an experiment whether, by a course of legislation, in a 
conventional form, or a legislative form of enactment, she can 
defeat the execution of certain laws of the United Slates, I, for 
one, will express my opinion — that I believe it is utterly imprac- 
ticable, whatever course of legislation she may choose to adopt, 
for her to succeed. I am ready, for one, to give the tribunals 
and the executive of the country, whether that executive has or 
has not my confidence, the necessary measures of power and 
authority to execute the laws of the Union. But I would not 
go a hair's breadth further than what was necessary for those 
purposes. Up to that point I would go, and cheerfully go ; for 
it is my sworn duty, as I regard it, to go to that point. 

Again: taking this view of the subject, Soulh Carolina is doing 
nothing more, except that she is doing it with more rashness, 
than some other states have done — that respectable state, Ohio, 
and, if he was not mistaken, the state of Virginia also. An 
opinion prevailed some years ago, that if you put the laws of a 
state into a penal form, you could oust icderal jurisdiction out 
of the limits of that state, because the state tribunals had an 
exclusive jurisdiction over penalties and crimes, and it was in- 
ferred that no federal court could wrest the authority from them. 
According to that principle, the state of Ohio passed the laws 
taxing the branch of the United States bank, and high penalties 
were to be enforced against every person who should attempt to 
defeat her taxation. The question was tried. It happened to 
be my lot, (said Mr. C.,) to be counsel at law to bring the suit 
against the state, and to maintain the feileral authority. The 
trial took place in the state of Ohio; and it is one of the many 
circumstances which redounded to the honor of that patriotic 
state, she submitted to federal force. I went to the ofhce of the 
public treasury myself to which was taken the money of the 
bank of the United States, it having remained there in seques- 



260 ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 

tration until it was peaceably rendered, in obedience to the 
decision of the court, without any appeal to arms. In a building 
which I had to pass in order to reach the treasury, I saw the 
most brilliant display of arms and musquetry that 1 ever saw in 
my life; but not one was raised or threatened to be raised againet 
the due execution of the laws of the United States, when they 
were then ealbrced. In Virginia, (but I am not sure that I am 
correct in the history of it,) there was a case of this kind. Per- 
ions were liable to penalties for selling lottery tickets. It was 
contended that the state tribunals had an exclusive jurisdiction 
over the subject. The case was brought before the Supreme 
Court — the parties were a Myers and somebody else, and it 
decided as it must always decide; no matter what obstruction — 
no matter what the state law may be, the constitutional laws 
of the United States nuist follow and del'eat it, in its attempt to 
arrest the federal arm in the exercise of its lawful authority. 
South Carolina has attempted — and, I repeat it, in a much more 
offensive way, attempted to defeat the execution of the laws of 
the United States. But it seems that, under all the circumstan- 
ces of the case, she has, for the present, determined to stop here, 
in order that, by our legislation, wc may prevent the necessity of 
her advancing any further. But there are other reasons for the 
expediency of iegislation at this time. Although I came here 
fully impressed with a different opinion, my mind has now be- 
come reconciled. 

The memorable first of February is past. I confess I did feel 
an unconquerable repugnance to legislation until that day should 
have passed, because of tlie consequences that Avere to ensue. 
I hoped that the day would go over well. I feel, and I think 
that we must all confess, we breathe a Ireer air tlian when the 
restraint was upon us. But this is not the only consideration. 
South Carolina has practically postponed her ordinance, instead 
of letting it go into effect, till the fourth of March. Nobody 
wlio has noticed the course of events, can doubt that she will 
postpone it by still further legislation, if Congress should rise 
without any settlement of this question. I was going to say, my 
life on it; she will postpone it to a period subsequent to the fourth 
of March. It is m the natural course of events. South Caro- 
lina must perceive the embarrassments of her situation. She 
must be desirous — it is unnatural to suppose that she is not — to 
remain in the Union. Wliat! a state whose heroes in its gallant 
ancestry fought so many glorious battles along with those of the 
other states of this Union — a state witli which this confede- 
racy is linked by bonds of such a pov/erful character! I have 
■ometimes fancied what would be her condition if siie goes out 
of this Union; if lier five hundred thousand people should at 
once be tlirown upon their own resources. She is out of the 
Union. What is the consequence? She is an independent 

Sower. What then does she do ? She must have armies and 
eets, and an expensive government — have foreign missions — 



ON DUTIES AND IMPORTS. 261 

she must raise taxes — enact this very tariff, which had driven 
her out of the Union, in order to enable her to raise money, and 
to sustain the attitude of an independent power. If she shoukl 
have no force, no navy to protect iier, she would be exposed to 
piratical incursions. Their neighbor, St. Domingo, might pour 
down a horde of piratofe on her borders, and desolate her planta- 
tions. She must have her embassies, therefore must she have a 
revenue. And, let me tell you, there is another consequence — 
an inevitable one ; she has a certain description of persons recog- 
nized as property south of the Potomac, and west of the Mis- 
sissippi, which v/ould be no longer recognized as such, except 
within their own limits. This species of property would sink 
immediately to one hah' of its present value, for it is Louisiana 
anfl the south-western states which are her great market. 

But I will not dwell on this topic any longer. I say it is utterly 
impossible that South Carohna ever desired, for a moment, to 
become a separate and independent state. If the existence of 
the ordinance, while an act of Congress is pending, is to be con- 
sidered as a motive for not passing that law, why his would be 
found to be a sufficient reason for preventing tlie passing of any 
laws. South Carolina, by keeping the shadow of an ordinance 
even before us, as she has it in her power to postpone it from 
time to time, would defeat our legislation forev'er. I would repeat 
that, under all the circumstances of the case, the condition of 
South Carolina is only one of the elements of a combination, 
the whole of which, together, constitutes a motive of action 
which renders it expedient to resort, during the present session 
of Congress, to some measure in order to quiet and tranquillize 
the country. 

If there be any who want civil war — who want to see the 
blood of any portion of our countrymen spilt — I am not one of 
them. I wish to see war of no kind; but, above all, I do not 
desire to see a civil war. When war begins, whether civil or 
foreign, no human sight is competent to foresee when, or how, 
or where it is to terminate. But when a civil war shall he lighted 
up in the bosom of our own happy land, and armies are march- 
ing, and commanders are winning their victories, and fieets are 
in motion on our coast — tell me, if you can, tell me if any human 
being can tell its duration. God alone knows Avhere such a war 
will end. In what state will be left our institutions? In what 
state our liberties? I want no war ; above all, no war at home. 

Sir, I repeat, that I think South Carolina has been rash, intem- 
perate, and greatly in the wrong; but I do not want to disgrace 
her, nor any other member of this Union. No : I do not desire 
to see the lustre of one single star dimmed, of that glorious con- 
federacy which constitutes our political sun; still less do I wish 
to see it blotted out, and its light obliterated forever. Has not 
the state of South Carolina been one of the members of this 
Union in "days that tried men's souls?" Have not her ances- 
tors fought along side our ancestors? Have we not, conjointly. 



262 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

won together many a glorious battle? If we had to go into a 
civil war wilh such a state, how would it terminate? Whenever 
it should have terminated, what would be her condition? If she 
should ever return to the Union, what would be the condition 
of her feelings and affections — what the state of the heart of her 
people? She has been with us before, when her ancestors min- 
gled in the throng of battle, and as I hope our posterity will 
mingle with hers, for ages and centuries to come, in the united 
defence of liberty, and for the honor and glory of the Union. I 
do not wish to see her degraded or defaced as a member of this 
confederacy. 

In conclusion, allow me to entreat and implore each individual 
member of this body to bring into the consideration of this 
measure, which I have had the honor of proposing, the same 
love of country which, if I know myself, has actuated me ; and 
the same desire of restoring harmony to the Union, which has 
prompted this effort. If we can forget for a moment — but that 
would be asking too much of human nature — if we could suffer, 
for one moment, party feelings and party causes — and, as I stand 
here before my God, I declare I have looked beyond those con- 
siderations, and regarded only the vast interests of this united 
people — I should hope that, under such feelings, and with such 
dispositions, we may advantageously proceed to the considera- 
tion of this bill, and heal, before they are yet bleeding, the 
wounds of our distracted country. 

Mr. C. concluded with asking leave to introduce his bill. 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

In the Senate of the United States, February 25, 1833, in vindica- 
tion of his bill, entitled ^^an act to modify the act of the 14tk 
July, 1832, and all other acts imposing duties on importsy 

The bill to modify the tariff being under consideration — 
Mr. Clay rose in reply to Mr. Webster, and said : being 
anxious, Mr. President, that this bill should pass, and pass this 
day, I will abridge as much as I can the observations which I 
am called upon to make. I have long, with pleasure and pride, 
co-operated in the public service with the senator from Massa- 
chusetts; and I have (bund him faithful, enlightened, and patri- 
otic. I have not a particle of doubt as to the pure and elevated 
motives which actuate him. Under these circumstances, it gives 
me deep arid lasting regret to find myself compelled to differ 
from him as to a measure involving vital interests, and perhaps 
the safety of the Union. On the other hand, I derive great con- 
solation from finding myself on this occasion, in the midst of 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 263 

friends with whom I have long acted, in peace and in war, and 
especially with the honorable senator from Maine, (Mr. Holmes,) 
with whom I had the happiness to unite in a memorable in- 
stance. It was in this very chamber, that senator presiding in 
the committee of the Senate, and I in the committee of twenty- 
four of the House of Representatives, on a Sabbath day, that 
the terms were adjusted, by which the compromise was effected 
of the Missouri question. Then the darli clouds that hung over 
our beloved country were dispersed ; and now the thunders from 
others not less threatening, and which have been longer accu- 
mulating, will, I hope, roll over us harmless and without injury. 

The senator from Massachusetts objects to the bill under 
consideration on various grounds. He argues that it imposes 
unjustifiable restraints on the power of future legislation; that it 
abandons the protective policy, and that the details of the bill 
are practically defective. He does not object to the gradual, but 
very inconsiderable, reduction of duties which is made prior to 
1342. To that he could not object, because it is a species of pro- 
spective provision, as he admits, in conformity with numerous 
precedents on our statute book. He does not object so much 
to t!ie state of the proposed law prior to 1842, during a period 
of nine years ; but throwing himself forward to the termination 
of that period, he contends that Congress will then find itself 
under inconvenient shackles, imposed by our indiscretion. In 
the first place, I Avould remark, that the bill contains no obliga- 
toiy pledges ; it could make none ; none are attempted. The 
power over the subject is in the constitution ; put there by those 
who formed it, and liable to be taken out only by an amendment 
of the instrument. Tlie next Congress, and every succeeding 
Congress, will undoubtedly have the power to repeal the law 
whenever they may think proper. Whether they will exercise 
it or not, will depend upon a sound discretion, applied to the 
state of the whole country, and estimating fairly the consequences 
of the repeal, both upon the general harmony and the common 
interests. Then the bill is ibunded in a spirit of compromise. 
Now, in all compromises there must be mutual concessions. 
The friends of free trade insist that duties should be laid in 
reference to revenue alone. The friends of American industry 
say that another, if not paramount, object in laying them, should 
be to diminish the consumption of foreign, and increase that of 
domestic products. On this point the parties divide, and be- 
tween these two opposite opinions, a reconciliation is to be 
effected, if it can be accomplished. The bill assumes as a basis, 
adequate protection for nine years, and less beyond that term. 
The friends of protection say to their opponents, we are willing 
to take a lease of nine years, with the long chapter of accidents 
beyond that period, including the chance of war, the restoration 
of concord, and along with it, a conviction common to all, of the 
utility of protection; and in consideration of it, if, in 1842, none 
of these contingencies shall have been realized, we are wilhng 



^i ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1S32. 

to submit, as long as Congress may think proper, to a maximum 
rate of twenty per cent., with the power of discrimination below 
it, casli duties, home valuations, and a liberal list of free articles, 
for the benefit of the manufacturing interest. To these con- 
ditions the opponents of protection are ready to accede. The 
measure is what it professes to be, a compromise ; but it imposes 
and could impose no restriction upon the will or power of a 
future Congress. Doubtless great respect will be paid, as it 
ought to be paid, to the serious condition of the country that lias 
prompted the passage of this bill. Any future Congress that 
might disturb this adjustment would act under a high responsi- 
bility, but it would be entirely witlun its competency to repeal, 
if it thought proper, the wliole bill. 

It is far ii'um the object of those who support this bill, to aban- 
don or surrender the policy of protecting American industry. 
Its protection or encouragement may be accomplished in various 
ways. Isl. By bounties, as far as they are within the couslir.i- 
tional power of Congress to offer them. 2d. By prohibitions, 
totally excluding the foreign rival article. 3d. By high duties, 
without regard to the a.ggregate amount of revenue which they 
produce. 4th. By discrinhnaling duties so adjusted as to linut 
the revenue to tlie economical wants of government. And otiily, 
By the admission of the raw material, and articles essential to 
manufactures, free of duty. To which may be added cash 
duties, iiomc valuations, and the regulation of auctions. A 
perfect system of protection would comprehend most, if not all 
these modes of aribrding it. There might be, at this time, a 
prohibition of certain articles, (ardent spirits and coarse cottous, 
tor example,) to public advantage. If there were not inveleraie 
prejudices and conflicting opinions prevailing, (and what slates- 
man can totally disregard impediments of that character ?) such 
a compound system might be established. 

Now, Mr. President, before the assertion is made that the bill 
Burrenders the protective policy, gentlemen should understand 
perfectly what it does not. as well as what it does propose. It 
impairs no power of Congress over the whole subject; it contains 
no promise or pledge whatever, express or implied, as to bounties, 
prohibitions, or auctions; it does not touch the power of Con- 
gress in regard to them, and Congress is perfectly free to exer- 
cise that power at any time ; it expressly recognizes discrinunat- 
ing duties within a })rescribed limit; it provides for cash duties 
and home valuations ; and it secures a Irec list, embracing nu- 
merous articles, some of high importance to the manufacturing 
arts. Of all the modes of protection which I have enumerated, 
it atlects only the third; that is to say, the imposition of high 
duties, producing a revenue beyond the wants of government. 
The senator from Massachusetts contends that the policy of 
protection was settled in 1S16, and that it has ever since been 
maintained. Sir, it was settled long before 1816. It is coeval 
with the present constitution, and it will continue, under somu 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1833 265 

of its various aspects, during the existence of the government 
No nation can exist, no nation, perhaps, ever existed, without 
protection, in some form, and to some extent, being apphed to 
its own industry. Tlie direct and necessary consequence of 
abandoning the protection of its own industry, would be to sub- 
ject it to the restrictions and proliibitions of Ibreign powers; 
and no nation, for any length of time, can endure an alien legis- 
lation, in which it has no will. The discontents which prevail, 
and the safety of the republic, may require the modification of a 
specific mode of protection, but it must be preserved in some 
other more acceptable shape. 

All that was settled in 1816, in 1S24, and in 1828, was that 
protection sliould be afforded by high duties, v:ithout regard to the 
amount of the i-evemte which they might yield. During that 
whole period, we had a public debt which absorbed all the sur- 
pluses bej'ond the ordinary Avants of government. Between 
1816 and 1824, the revenue was liable to the great fluctuations, 
vibrating between the extremes of about nineteen and thirty-six 
millions of dollars. If there were more revenue, more debt 
was paid ; if less, a smaller amount was reimbursed. Such was 
sometimes the deficiency of the revenue, that it became necessary, 
to the ordinary expenses of government, to trench upon the ten 
millions annually set apart, as a sinking fund, to extinguish the 

Eublic debt. If the public debt remained undischarged, or we 
ad any other proper and practical mode of appropriating the 
surplus revenue, the form of protection, by high duties, might be 
continued without public detriment. It is the payment of the 
public debt, then, and the arrest of internal improvements by the 
exercise of the veto, that unsettle that specific form of protection. 
Nobody supposes, or proposes, that we should continue to levy 
by means of high duties, a large annual surplus, of which no 
practical use can be made, for the sake of the incidental protec- 
tion which they afford. The secretary of the treasury estimates 
that surplus on the existing scale of duties, and with the other 
sources of revenue, at six millions annually. An annual accu- 
mulation, at that rate, would, in a lew years, bring into the 
the treasury the whole currency of the country, to lie there in- 
active and dormant. 

This view of the condition of the country has impressed every 
public man with the necessity of some modification of the prin- 
ciples of protection, so far as it depends upon high duties. The 
senator from Massachusetts feels it ; and hence, in the resolu- 
tions which he submitted, he proposes to reduce the duties, so as 
to limit the amount of the revenue to the wants of the govern- 
ment. With him revenue is the principal, protection the sub- 
ordinate object. If protection cannot be enjoyed after such a 
reduction of duties as he thinks ought to be made, it is not to be 
extended. He says specific duties, and the power of discrimina- 
tion, are preserved by his resolutions. So they may be under 
23 



266 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

the operation of the bill. The only difference between the two 
schemes is, that the bill, in the maximum which it provides, 
suggests a certain limit ; whilst his resolutions lay down none. 
Below that maximum, the principle of discrimination and speci- 
fic duties may be applied. The senator from Pennsylvania, 
(Mr. Dallas,) who, equally with the senator from Massachusetts, 
is opposed to this bill, would have agreed to the bill if it had 
fixed thirty instead of twenty per centum ; and he would have 
dispensed with home valuation, and come down to the revenue 
standard in five or six years. Now, Mr. President, I prefer, and 
I think the manufacturing interest will prefer, nine years of ade- 
quate protection, home valuations, and twenty per cent, to the 
plan of the senator from Pennsylvania. 

Mr. President, I want to be perfectly understood as to the 
motives which have prompted me to oiler this measure. I repeat 
what I said on the introduction of it, that they are, first, to pre- 
serve the manufacturing interest, and, secondly, to quiet the 
country. I believe the American system to be in the greatest 
danger ; and I believe it can be placed on a better and safer 
foundation at this session, than at the next. I heard with sur- 
prise, my friend from Massachusetts say that nothing had oc- 
curred within the last six months to increase its hazard. I en- 
treai him to review that opinion. Is it correct? Is the issue of 
numerous elections, including that of the highest officer of the 
government, nothing? Is the explicit recommendation of that 
officer, in his message at the opening of the session, sustained, 
as he is, by a recent triumphant election, notiiing ? Is his decla- 
ration in his proclamation, that the burdens ol' the south ought 
to be relieved, nothing ? Is the introduction of a bill into the 
House of Representatives during this session, sanctioned by the 
head of the treasury and the administration, prostrating the 
greater part of the manufactures of the country, nothing? Are 
the increasing discontents nothing? Is the tendency of recent 
events to unite the whole south nothing? What have we not 
witnessed in this chamber ? Friends of the administration burst- 
ing all the ties which seemed indissolubly to unite them to its 
chief, and, with few exceptions south of the Potomac, opposing, 
and vehemently opposing, a favorite measure of that adminis- 
tration, whicii three short months ago tiiey contributed to estab- 
lish ! Let us not deceive ourselve. Now is the time lo adjust 
the question in a manner satisfactory to both parties. Put it off 
until the next session, and the alternative may, and probably 
then would be a speedy and ruinous reduction of the tariff, or a 
oivil war with the entire south. 

It is well known that the majority of the dominant party is 
adverse to the tariff. There are many honorable exceptions, the 
■enator from New Jersey, (Mr. Dickerson,) among them. But 
for the exertions of the other party, the tarili' would have beeu 
long since sacrificed. Now let us look at the composition of the 
two branches of Congress at tlie next session. In this body 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832, 267 

we lose three friends of the protective policy, without being sure 
of gaining one. Here, judging from present appearances, we shall 
at the next session, be in the minority. In tlie House it is notori- 
ous that there is a considerable accession to the number of the 
dominant party. How, then. I ask, is the system to be sustained 
against number.?, against the whole weight of the administration, 
against the united soutli. and against the increased pending dan- 
ger of civil war? There is, indeed, one contingency that might 
save it, but that is too uncertain to rely upon. A certain class 
of northern politicians, professing friendship to the tariff, have 
been charged with being secretly inimical to it, for political 
purposes. They may change their ground, and come out open 
and undisguised supporters of the .system. They may even fnd 
in the measure wliich I have brought Ibrward a motive for their 
conversion. Sir, I shall rejoice in it, from whatever cause it 
may proceed. And, if they can give greater strength and du- 
rability to the sj'stem, and at the same time quiet the discontents 
of its opponents, I shall rejoice still more. They shall not find 
me disposed to abandon it, because it has drawn succor from an 
unexpected quarter. 

No, Mr. Prchident, it is not destruction but preservation of the 
system at which we aim. If dangers now assail it, we have 
not created them. I have sustained it upon the strongest and 
clearest convictions of its expediency. They are entirely unal- 
tered. Had others, who avow attachment to it, supported it 
with equal zeal and straight-forwardness, it Avouid be now free 
from embarrassment; but with tliem it has been a secondary 
interest. I utter no complaints — 1 malce no reproaches. I wish 
only to defend myself now, as heretofore, against unjust assaults. 
I have been represented as the father of Ihis system, and I am 
charged with an unnatural abandonment of my own oifspring. 
I have never arrogated to myself any such intimate relation to 
it. I have, indeed, cherished it with parental fondness, and rny 
affection is undiminished. But in what condition do I find this 
child? It is in the hands of tlie Philistines, who would strangle 
it. I fly to its rescue, to snatch it from their custody, and to 
place it on a bed of security and repose for nine years, where 
it may grow and strengthen, and become acceptable to the whole 
people. I behold a torch about being applied to a favorite edi- 
fice, and I would save it, if possible, before it is wrapt in flames, 
or at least preserve the precious furniture which it contains. I 
wish to see the tariff separated li-om the politics of the country, 
that business men may go to worlc in security, with som.e pros- 
pect of stability in our laws, and without every thing being 
etaked on the issue of elections as it were on the hazards of 
the die. 

And the other leading object which has prompted the intro- 
duction of this measure, the tranquillizing of the country, is no 
less important. All wise human legislation must consult in 
aorae degree the passions, and prejudices, and feelings, as well 



268 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

as the interests of the people. It would be vain and foolish to 
proceed at all times, and under all circumstances, upon the notion 
of absolute certainty in any system, or infallibility in any dogma, 
and to push these out without regard to any consequences. — 
With us, who entertain the opinion that Congress is constitu- 
tionally invested with power to protect domestic industry, it is 
a question of mere expediency as to the form, the degree and 
the time that the protection shall be atlbrded. In weighing all 
the considerations which should control and regulate the exercise 
of that power, we ought not to overlook what is due to those 
who honestly entertain opposite opinions to large masses of the 
community, and to deep, long cherished and growing prejudices. 
Perceiving, ourselves, no constitutional impediment, we have 
less difficulty in accommodating ourselves to the sense of the 
people of the United States upon this interesting subject. I 
do believe that a majority of them is in favor of this policy; 
but I am induced to believe this almost against evidence. Two 
states in New-England, which have been in favor of the system, 
have recently come out against it. Other states of the north 
and east have shown a remarkable indifference to its preserva- 
tion. If, indeed, they have wished to preserve it, they have 
nevertheless placed the powers of government in hands which 
ordinary information must have assured them were rather a 
hazardous depository. With us in the west, althougli we are 
not without some direct, and considerable indirect, interest in 
the system, we have supported it more upon national than sec- 
tional grounds. 

Meantime, the opposition of a large and respectable .section 
of the Union, stimulated by political success, has increased, and 
is increasing. Discontents are multiplying and assuming new 
and dangerous aspects. They have been cherished by the 
course and hopes inspired during this administration, which, at 
the very moment that it threatens and recommends the use of 
the power of the whole Union, proclaims aloud the injustice of 
the system which it would enforce. These discontents are not 
limited to those who maintain the extravagant theory of nullifi- 
cation; they are not confined to one state; they are co-extensivc 
with the entire south, and extend even to northern states. It 
has been intimated, by the Senator from Massachusetts, that, 
if we legislate at this session on the taril^i ^ve would seem to 
legislate under the influence of a panic. I believe, Mr. Presi- 
dent, I am not more sensible to danger of any kind than my 
fellow men are generally. It perhaps requires as much moral 
courage to legislate under the imputation of a panic, as to 
refrain from it lest such an imputation should be made. But 
he who regards the present question as being limited to South 
Carolina alone, takes a view of it much too contracted. There 
is a sympathy of feeling and interest throughout the whole 
south. Other southern states may differ from that as to the 
remedy to be now used, but all agree (great as in my hnmble 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 269 

judgment is their error,) in the substantial justice of tlie cause. 
Can° there be a doubt that those who think in common will sooner 
or later act in concert? Events are on the wing, and hastening 
this co-operation. Since the commencement of this session, the 
most powerful southern member of the Union has taken a mea- 
sure which cannot fail to lead to important consequences. She 
has deputed one of her most distinguished citizens to request a 
Buepension of measures of resistance. No attentive observer 
can doubt that the suspension will be made. Well, sir, suppose 
it takes place, and Congress should fail at the next session to 
afford the redress which will be solicited, what course would 
every principle of honor, and every consideration of the intereete 
of Virginia, as she understands them, exact from her? Would 
she not make common cause Avith South Carolina? and, if she 
did, would not the entire south eventually become parties to the 
contest? The rest of the Union might put down the south, and 
reduce it to submission ; but, to say nothing of the uncertainty 
and hazards of all war, is that a desirable state of things? — 
Ought it not to be avoided if it can be honorably prevented? I 
am not one of those who think that we must rely exclusively 
upon moral power, and never resort to phj'sical force. I know 
too well the Irailties and follies of man, in his collective as well 
as individual character, to reject, in all possible cases, the em- 
ployment of force ; but I do think that, when resorted to, espe- 
cially among the members of a confederacy, it should manifestly 
appear to be the only remaining appeal. 

But suppose the present Congress terminates without any 
adjustment of the tariff, — let us see in what condition its friends 
will find themselves at the next session. South Carolina will 
have postponed the execution of the law passed to carry into 
effect her ordinance until the end of that session. All \vill be 
quiet in the south for the present. The President, in his opening 
message, will urge that justice, as he terms it. be done to the 
south, and that the burdens imposed upon it by the tariff be 
removed. The v.diole weight of the administration, the united 
south, and majorities of the dominant party in both branches 
of Congress, will be found in active co-operation. Will the 
gentleman from Massachusetts tell me how v/e are to save the 
tariff against this united and irresistible force? They will 
accuse us of indifference to the preservation of the Union, and 
of being willing to expose the country to the dangers of civil 
war. The fact of South Carolina postponing her ordinance, at 
the instance of Virginia, and once more appealing to the justice 
of Congress, will be pressed with great emphasis and effect. It 
does appear to me impossible that we can prevent a most injuri- 
ous modification of the tariff at the next session, and that this i» 
the favorable moment for an equitable arrangement of it. I 
have been subjected to animadversion for the admission of the 
fact, that, at the next session, our opponents will ho stronger, and 
23* 



270 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

the friends of the American system weaker than they o.re in this 
Congress. But is it not so? And is it not the duty of every 
man who aspires to be a statesman to look at naked facts as they 
really are? Must he suppress them? Ought he, like children, 
to throw the counterpane over his eyes, and persuade himself 
that he is secure I'rom danger? Are not our opponents as well 
informed as we are about their own strsnglh? 

If we adjourn, without any permanent settlement of the tariff, 
in what painful suspense and terrible uncertainty shall we not 
leave the manufacturers and business men of the country? All 
eyes will be turned, with trembling and fear, to the next session. 
Operations will be circumscribed, and new enicrprizcs checked, 
or, if otherwise, ruin and bankruptcy may be the consequence. 
I believe, sir, this measure, which oilers a reasonable guarantee 
for permanence and stability, will be hailed by practical men with 
pleasure. The political manul'acturers may be against it, but it 
will command the approbation of a large majority of the business 
manufacturers of the country. 

But the objections of the honorable Senator from Massachu- 
setts are principally directed to the period beyond 1S42. During 
the intermediate time, there is every reason to hope and believe 
that the bill secures adequate protection. All my inibrmation 
assures me of this; and it is demonstrated by the fact, that, if 
the measure of protection, secured prior to the 31st December, 
1841, were permanent, or if the bill were even silent beyond 
that period, it would command the cordial and unanimous con- 
currence of the friends of the policy. What then divides, what 
alarms us? It is what may possiblijhe the state of things in the 
year one thousand eight hundred and fony-two, or subsequent- 
ly! Now, sir, even if that should be as bad as the most vivid 
imagination or the most eloquent tongue could depict it, if Ave 
have intermediate safety and secui'ity, it does not seem to me 
wise to rush upon certain and present evils, because of those 
which, admitting their possibility, are very remote and contin- 
gent. What! shall we not extinguish the flame which is burst- 
ing through the roof that covers us. because, at some future and 
distant day, we maybe again threatened witli conflagration? 

I do not admit that this bill abandons, or fails by its provisions 
to secure reasonable protection beyond 1S42. I cannot know, I 
pretend not to know, what will then be the actual condition of 
this countr_y, and of the manufacturing arts, and their relative 
condition to the rest of the world. I would as soon confide in 
the forecast of the honorable Senator from Massachusetts, as in 
that of any other man in this Senate, or in this country : but he, 
nor any one else, can tell what that condition will then be. The 
degree of protection which will be required for domestic industry 
beyond 1S42, depends upon the reduction of wages, the accumu- 
lation of capital, the improvement in skill, the protection of ma- 
chinery, and the cheaoening of the price, at home, of essential 
articles, such i^s fuel, iron, &c. I do not think that the honora- 



/ 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 271 

ble Senator can throw himself forward to 1842, and tell us what, 
in all these particulars, will be the state of this country, and its 
relative state to other countries. We know that, in all hunia« 
probability, our numbers will be increased by an addition of one- 
third, at least, to their present amount, and that may materially 
reduce wages. We have reason to believe that our capital will 
be augmented, our skill improved ; and we know that great pro- 
gress lias been made, and is making, in machinery. There is a 
constant tendency to decrease in the price of iron and coal. The 
opening of new mines, and new channels of communication, must 
continue to lower it. The successful introduction of tlie process 
of coking would have great effect. The price of these articles, 
one of the most opulent and intelligent manufacturing houses in 
this country assures me, is a princL])al cause of the present ne- 
cessity of protection to the cotton interest; and that house is 
strongly inclined to think that 20 per cent, with the other advan- 
tages secured in this bill, may do beyond 1842. Then, sir, what 
efl'ect may not convulsions and revolutions in Europe, if any 
should arise, produce ? I am far from desiring them, that our 
country may profit by their occurrence. Her greatness and glory 
rest, I hope, upon a more solid and more generous basis. But 
we cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that our greatest manufac- 
turing, as v.-ell as commercial competitor, is undergoing a mo- 
mentous political experiment, the issue of which is far from being 
absolutely certain. Who can raise the veil of the succeeding 
nine years, and show what, at their termination, will be the de- 
gree of competition which Great Britain can exercise towards ub 
in the manufacturing arts? 

Suppose, in the progress of gradual descent towards the reve- 
nue standard, for which this bill provides, it should, some years 
hence, become evident that further protection, beyond 1S42, than 
that which it contemplates, may be necessary, can it be doubted 
that, in some form or other, it will be applied? Our misfortune 
has been, and yet is, that the public mind has been constantly 
kept in a state of feverish excitement in respect to this sj^stem 
of policy. Conventions, elections, Congress, the public press, 
have been for years all acting upon the tarifl', and the tariff act- 
ing upon them all. Prejudices liave been excited, passions kin- 
dled, and mutual irritations carried to the highest pitch of exas- 
peration, insomuch that good feelings have been almost extin- 
guished, and the voice of reason and experience silenced, among 
Sie members of the confederacy. Let us separate the tariff from 
the agitating politics of the country, place it upon a stable and 
firm tbundation, and allow our enterprising countrymen to de- 
monstrate to the whole Union, by their skilful and successful la- 
bors, the inappreciable value ot' the arts. If they can have, what 
they have never yet enjoyed, some years of repose and tranquil- 
lity, they will make, silently, more converts to the policy, than 
would be made during a long period of anxious struggle and 
boisterous contention. Above all, I count upon the good effects 



272 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OP 1832. 

resulting from a restoration of the harmony of this divided peo- 
ple, upon their good sense and their love of justice. Who can 
doubt, that when passions have subsided, and reason has resumsd 
her empire, that there will be a disposition throughout the whole 
Union to render ample justice to all its parts ? Who will believe 
that any section of this great confederacy would look with indif- 
ference to the prostration of the interests of another section, by 
distant and selfish ibreign nations, regardless alike of the welfare 
of us all? No, sir ; I have no fears beyond 1S42. The people of 
tlie United States are brethren, made to love and respect each 
other. Momentary causes may seem to alienate them, but, like 
family differences, they will terminate in a closer and more af- 
fectionate union than ever. And how much more estimable will 
be a system of protection, based on connnon conviction and com- 
mon consent, and planted in the bosoms of all, than one wrench- 
ed by power from reluctant and protesting weakness ? 

That such a system will be adopted, if it should be necessary 
for the period of time subsequent to 1842, I will not doubt. But, 
in the scheme which I originally proposed, I did not rely exclu- 
■ively, great as my reliance is, upon the operation of fraternal 
feelings, the return of reason, and a sense of justice. The scheme 
contained an appeal to tiie interests of the south. According to 
it, unmanufactured cotton was to be a free article after 1842. 
Gentlemen from that quarter have again and again asserted that 
they were indifferent to the duty of three cents per pound on cotton, 
and that they feared no foreign competition. I have thought oth- 
erwise; but I was willing, by way of experiment, to take them at 
their word ; not that I was opposed to the protection of cotton, 
but believing that a few cargoes of foreign cotton introduced into 
our northern ports, free of duty, would hasten our southern frienda 
to come here and ask that protection for their great staple, which 
is wanted in other sections for their interests. That feature in 
Lihe scheme was stricken out in the select committee, but not by 
tJie consent of my fi'iend from Delaware (Mr. Clayton) or my- 
self Still, after 1812, the south may want protection for sugar, 
for tobacco, for Virginia coal, perhaps for cotton and other arti- 
cles, whilst other qnarter.s may need it for wool, woollens, iron 
ajid cotton fabrics ; and these mutual wants, if they should exist, 
will lead, I hope, to some amicable adjustment of a tariff for that 
distant period, satisfactory to all. The theory of protection sup- 
poses, too. that, after a certain time, the protected arts will have 
acquired such strength and perfection as will enable them subse- 
quently, unaided, to stand up against foreign competition. If, as 
1 have no doubt, this should prove to be correct, it will, on the 
arrival of 1842, encourage all parts of the Union to consent to 
the continuance of longer protection to the few articles which 
may then require it. 

The bill before us strongly recommends itself by its equity 
and impartiality. It favors no one interest, and no one state, by 
sua unjust eacritice of others. It deals equally by alL Its baeis 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 273 

k the act of July last. That act was passed after careful and 
thorough investigation, and long deliberation, continued through 
several months. Although it may not have been perfect in its 
adjustment of the proper measure of protection to each article 
■which was supposed to merit it, it is not likely that, even with 
the same length of time before us, we could make one more per- 
fect. Assuming the justness of that act, the bill preserves the 
respective propositions for which the act provides, and subjects 
them all to the same equal but moderate reduction, spread over 
the long space of nine years. The Senator from Massachusetts 
contends that a great part of the value of all protection is given 
up by dispensing with specific duties and the principle of dis- 
crimination. But much the most valuable articles of our domes- 
tic manufactures (cotton and woollens, for example) have never 
enjoyed the advantage of specific duties. They have always 
been hable to ad valorem duties, with a very limited application 
of the minimum principle. The bill does not, however, even af- 
ter 1842, surrender either mode of laying duties. Discrimina- 
tions are expressly recognised below the maximum, and specific 
duties may also be imposed, provided they do not exceed it. 

The honorable Senator also contends that the bill is imperfect, 
and that the execution of it will be impracticable. He asks, how 
is the excess above 20 per cent, to be ascertained on coarse and 
I)rinted cottons, liable to minimums of 30 and 35 cents, and sub- 
ject to a duty of 25 per cent, ad valorem ; and how is it to be 
estimated in the case of specific duties? Sir, it is very probable 
that the bill is not perfect, but I do not believe that there is any 
thing impraotiffible in its execution- Much will, however, de- 
pend upon the head of the treasury department. In the instance 
of the cotton minimums, the statute having, by way of exception 
to the general ad valorem ryle, declared, in certain cases, how 
the value shall be estimated, that statutory value ought to gov- 
ern; and consequently the 20 per cent, should be exclusively de- 
ducted from the 25 per cent, being the rate of duties to which 
cottons generally are liable ; and the biennial tenths should be 
subtracted from the excess of five per cent. With regard to spe- 
cific duties, it will, perhaps, be competent to the Secretary of the 
Treasury, in the execution of the law, for the sake of certainty, 
to adopt some average value, founded upon importations of a 
previous year. But if the value of each cargo, and every part 
of it, is to be ascertained, it would be no more than what now is 
the operation in the case of woollens, silks, cottons above 30 and 
35 cents, and a variety of other articles ; and consequently there 
would be no impracticability in the law. 

To all defects, however, real or imaginary, which may be sup- 
posed will arise in the execution of the principle of the bill, I 
oppose one conclusive, and, I hope, satisfactory answer. Con- 
gress will be in session one whole month before the commence- 
ment of the law ; and if, in the mean time, omissions calling for 
further legislation shall be discovered, there will be more time 



274 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

then than we have now to supply tliem. Let us, on this occasiois 
of compromise, pursue the example of our fathers, who, under 
the influence of the same spirit, in the adoption of the constitu- 
tion of the United States, determined to ratify it, and go for 
amendments afterwards. 

To the argument of the senator from Massachusetts, that this 
interest, and that a'ld the other cannot be sustained under the 
protection beyond lSi2, 1 repeat the answer that no one can now 
tell what may then be necessary. That period will provide for 
itself But 1 was surprised to hear my friend singling out iron 
as an article tliat would be most injuriously affected by the ope- 
ration of tliis bill. If I am not greatly mistaken in my recol- 
lection, he opposed and voted against the act of 1824, because of 
the high duty imposed on iron. But for that duty, (and perhaps 
tlie duty on hemp), whinh he then considered threw an unrea- 
sonable bu-den upon the navigation of the country, he Avould 
have supported tiiat act. Of all the articles to which protecting 
duties are applied, iron, and the manufactures of iron, enjoy 
the highest protection. Daring the term of nine years, the de- 
ductions from the duty arc not such as seriously to impair 
those great interests, unless all my information deceives me; and 
beyond that periol the remedy has been already indicated. 
Let me sujjpose ihat the anticipations which I form upon the re- 
storation of concord and confidence shall be all falsified ; that 
neither the sense of fraternal affection nor common justice, 
nor even common interests, will lead to an amicable adjustment 
of' the tariff b!>yo,ad 1312. Let me suppose that period has ar- 
rived, and that the provialona of the bill sliall be interpreted as 
an obligatory ph.'dge upon the Congress of that day; and let me 
suppose also that a greater amount of protection than the bdl 
provides is absolutely necessary to some interests, what is to be 
done? Regarded as a pledge, it does not bind Congress forever 
to adhere to the specific rate of duty contained in the bill. The 
most, in that view, that it exacts, is to make a fair experiment. 
If, after such experiment, it should be demonstrated that, under 
euch an arrangement of the tariff, the interests of large portions 
of the Union would be sacrificed, and they exposed to ruin, Con- 
gress wdl be competent to apply some remedy that will be effec- 
tual; and I hope and believe that, in such a contingency, some 
will be devi.siul that may preserve the harmony and perpetuate 
the blessings of the Union. 

It has been all lodged that there will be an augmentation, in- 
Btead of a diminution of revenue under the operation of this bill. 
I feel quite confident of the reverse; but it is suthcient to say 
that both contingencies are carefully provided for in the bill, 
without affecting' the protected articles. 

The gentleman from Massachusetts dislikes the measure, be- 
cause it comma'ids the concurrence of those who have been 
hitherto opposed in rcgar.l to the tariff; and is approved by the 
gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun) as well as by 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 275 

myself. Why, sir, the gentleman has told aa that he is not 
opposed to any compromise. Will he be pleased to say how 
any compromise can be effected, without a coacurrence between 
those who had been previously divided, and taking some me- 
dium between the two extremes ? Tlie wider the division may 
have been, so much the better for the compromise, which ought 
to be judged of by its nature and by its terms, and not solely by 
those who happen to vote for it. It is an adjustment to which 
both tlie great interests in this country may accede without 
either being dishonored. The triumph of neither is complete. 
Each, lor the sake of peace, harmony, and union, makes some 
concessions. The south has contended that every vestige of 
protection should be eradicated from the statute book, and the 
revenue standard forthwith adopted. In assenting to this bill, 
it waives that pretension — yields to reasonable protection for 
nine years ; and consents, in consideration of tlae maximum of 
twenty per cent, to be subsequently applied, to discriminations 
below it, cash duties, home valuations, and a long list of free 
articles. The north and west have contended for the practical 
application of the principle of protection, regulated by no other 
limit than the necessary wants of the country. If they accede to 
this adjustment, they agree, in consideration of the stability and 
certainty which nine years' duration of a favorite system of 
policy affords, and of the other advantages which have been 
enumerated, to come down in 1812 to a limit not exceeding- 
twenty per cent. Both parties, animated by a desire to avert 
the evils which might flow from carrying out into all their conse- 
quences the cherished system of either, have met upon common 
ground, made mutual and friendly concessions, and, I trust, and 
sincerely believe, that neither will have, hereafter, occasion to 
regret, as neither can justly reproach the otlier with what may 
be now done. 

Tills, or some other measure of conciliation, is now more than 
ever necessary, since the passage, tiirough the senate, of the en- 
forcing bill. To that bill, if I had been present, on the final vote, 
I should have given my assent, although with great reluctance. 
I believe this government not onlypossessedof the constitutional 
power, but to be bound by every consideration, to maintain the 
autliority of the laws. But I deeply regretted the necessity 
which seemed to me to require the passage of such a bill. And 
I was I'ar from being without serious apprehensions as to the 
consequences to which it might lead. I felt no new born zeal 
in lavor of the present administration, of which I now think as 
I have always thought. I could not vote against the measure ; 
I would not speak in its behalf I thought it most proper in me 
to leave to the tnends of the administration and to others, who 
might feel themselves particularly called upon, to defend and 
sustain a strong measure of the administration. With respect 
to the series of acts to which the executive has resorted, in re- 
lation to our southern disturbance, this is not a fit occasion to 



276 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 

enter iipoii a full consideration of them ; but I will briefly say, 
that, akiiough the proclamation is a paper of uncommon ability 
and eloquence, doing great credit, as a composition, to him who 
prepared it, and to him who signed it, I think it contains some 
ultra doctrines, which no party in this country had ventured to 
assert. With these are mixed up many sound principles and 
just views of our political systems. If it is to be judged by its 
effects upon those to whom it was more inmiediately addressed, 
it must be admitted to have been ill timed and unfortunate. 
Instead of allaying the excitement which prevailed, it increased 
the exasperation in the infected district, and afforded new and 
unnecessary causes of discontent and dissatisfaction in the soutli 
generally. The message, subsequently transmitted to Congress, 
communicating the proceedings of South Carolina, and calling 
for countervailing enactments, was characterized with more 
prudence and moderation. And, if this unhappy contest is to 
continue, I sincerely hope that the future conduct of the adminis- 
tration ra'ay be governed by v;ise and cautious counsels, and a 
parental forbearance. But when the highest degree of animosity 
exists; when both parties, however unequal, have arrayed 
themselves for the conflict, who can tell when, by the indiscre- 
tion of subordinates, or other unforeseen causes, the bloody 
struggle may commence ? In the midst of magazines, who 
knows when the fatal spark may produce a terrible explosion ? 
And the battle once begun where is its limit? V/hat latitude 
will circumscribe its rage ? Who is to command our armies ? 
When, and where, and how is the war to cease? In Avhat con- 
dition will the peace leave the American system, the American 
Union, and, what is more than all, American liberty ? I cannot 
profess to have a confidence, Avhich I have not, in this adminis- 
tration, but if I had all confidence in it, I should still wish to 
pause, and, if possible, by any honorable adjustment, to prevent 
awful consequences, the extent of which no human wisdom can 
foresee. 

It appears to me then, Mr. President, that we ought not to 
content ourselves with passing the enforcing bill only. Both 
that and the bill of peace seem to me to be required for the good 
of our country. The first will satisfy all Avho love order and 
law, and disapprove the inadmissible doctrine of nullification. 
The last will soothe those who love peace and concord, harmony 
and union. One demonstrates the power and the disposition to 
vindicate the authority and supremacy of the laws of the Union; 
the other offers that which, if it be accepted in the fraternal 
■pirit in vv^hich it is tendered, will supersede the necessity of the 
employment of all force. 

There are some who say, let the tariff go down; let our manu- 
factures be prostrated, if such be the pleasure, at another session, 
of those to whose hands the government of this country is con- 
fided: let bankruptcy and ruin be spread over the land: and 
let resistance to the laws, at all hazards, be subdued. Sir, they 



/ 



ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1832. 277 

take counsel from their passions. They anticipate a terrible re- 
action from the downfall of the tariff, which would ultimately 
re-establish it upon a firmer basis than ever. But it is these 
very agitations, these mutual irritations between brethren of the 
same family, it is the individual distress and general ruin that 
would necessarily follow the overthrow ol' the tariif, that ought, 
if possible to be prevented. Besides are we certain of this re- 
action ? Have we not been disappointed in it as to other mea- 
sures heretofore? But suppose, after a long and embittered 
struggle, it should come, in what relative condition would it find 
the parts of this confederacy ? In what state our ruined manu- 
factures? When they should be laid low, who. amidst the frag- 
ments of the general wreck, scattered over the face of the land, 
would have courage to engage in fresh enterprises, under a new 
pledge of the violated faith of the government? If we adjourn, 
without passing this bill, having entrusted the executive with 
vast pov^rers to maintain the laws, should he be able by the 
next session to put down all opposition to them, will he not, 
as a necessary consequence of success, have more power than 
ever to put down the tariff also? Has he not said that the 
south is oppressed, and its burdens ought to be relieved ? And 
will he not feel himself bound, after he shall have triumphed, if 
triumph he may in a civil war, to appease the discontents of the 
south by a modification of the tariff", in conformity with its 
wishes and demands? No, sir; no, sir; let us save the country 
from the most dreadful of all calamities, and let us save its in- 
dustry too, from threatened destruction. Statesmen should reg- 
ulate their conduct and adapt their measures to the exigencies 
of the times in which they live. They cannot, indeed, transcend 
the limits of the constitutional rule ; but with respect to those 
systems of policy which tall within its scope, the}^ should arrange 
them according to the interests, the wantS; and the prejudices of 
the people. Two great dangers threaten the public salety. The 
true patriot will not stop to inquire how they have been brought 
about, but will fly to the deliverance of his country. The dif- 
ference between the friends and the foes of the compromise, 
under consideration, is, that they would, in the enforcing act, 
send forth alone a flaming sword. We would send out tliat 
also, but along with it the olive branch, as a messenger of peace. 
They cry out, the law ! the law! the law! Power! power! power! 
We, too, reverence the law, and bow to the supremacy of its 
obligation ; but we are in favor of the law executed in mild- 
ness, and of power tempered with mercy. They, as we think, 
would hazard a civil commotion, beginning in South Carolina, 
and extending God only knows where. While we would vindi- 
cate the authority of the Federal government, we are for peace, 
if possible, union and liberty. We want no war, above all, no 
civil war, no family strife. We want to see no sacked ciUes, dq 
24 



278 ON THE COMPROMISE BILL OP 1832. 

desolated fields, no smoking ruins, no streams of American blood 
shed by American arms ! 

I have been accused of ambition in presenting this measure. 
Ambition ! inordinate ambition ! If I had thought of myself only 
I should have never brought it forward. I know well the perils 
to which I expose myself; the risk of alienating faithful and 
valued friends, with but little prospect of making new ones, if 
any new ones could compensate for the loss of those v/hom we 
have long tried and loved ; and the honest misconceptions both 
of friends and foes. Ambition ! If I had listened to its soft and 
seducing whispers ; if I had yielded myself to the dictates of a 
cold, calculating, and prudential policy, I would have stood still 
and unmoved. I might even have silently gazed on the raging 
storm, enjoyed its loudest thunders, and left those who are 
charged with the care of the vessel of State, to conduct it as they 
could. I have been heretofore often unjustly accused of ambi- 
tion. Low, grovelling souls, who are utterly incapable of eleva- 
ting themselves to the higher and nobler duties of pure patriot- 
ism — beings, who, forever keeping their own selfish aims in 
view, decide all public measures by their presumed influence on 
their aggrandizement, judge me by the venal rule which they 
prescribe to themselves. I have given to the winds these false 
accusations, as I consign that which now impeaches my motives. 
I have no desire for office, not even the highest. The most ex- 
alted is but a prison, in which the incarcerated incumbent 
daily receives his cold heartless visitants, marks his weary 
hours, and is cut oflf from the practical enjoyment of all the 
blessings of genuine freedom. I am no candidate for any office 
in the gift of the people of these states, united or separated; I 
never wish, never expect to be. Pass this bill, tranquillize the. 
country, restore confidence and affection in the Union, and I am 
willing to go home to Ashland, and renounce public service for- 
ever. I should there find, in its groves, under its shades, on its 
lawns, amidst ray flocks and herds, in the bosom of my family, 
sincerity and truth, attachment and fidelity, and gratitude, which 

I have not always found in the walks of public Hie Yes, I 

have ambition, but it is the ambition of being the 'iiumble instru- 
ment, in the hands of Providence, to reconcile a divided people, 
once more to revive concord and harmony in a distracted laud — 
tlie pleasing ambition of contemplating the glorious spectacle of 
a free, united, prosperous, and fraternal people ! 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 279 

ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

In the Senate — February 4. 

Mr. Ciay addressed the chair. He held in his hands, and beg- 
ged leave to present to the Senate, certain resolutions and a memo- 
rial, to the Senate and House of Representatives of tlae U. States, 
of a council met at Running Waters, consisting of a portion of 
the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokees (said Mr. C.) have a 
country — if, indeed, it can be any longer called their country — 
which is comprised within the limits of Georgia, Alabama, Ten- 
nessee and North Carolina. They have a population which is 
variously estimated, but which, according to the best information 
W'hich I possess, amounts to about fifteen thousand souls. Of 
this population, a portion, believed to be much the greater part, 
amounting, as is estimated, to between nine and ten thousand 
souls, reside within the limits of the state of Georgia. The Sen- 
ate was well aware, Mr. C. said, that for several years past, it 
had been the policy of Ihe general government to transfer the 
Indians to the west of the Mississippi river, and that a portion 
of the Cherokees have already availed themselves of this policy 
of the government, and emigrated beyond the Mississippi. Of 
those who remain, a portion — a respectable, but, also, an incon- 
siderable portion — are desirous to emigrate to the west, and a 
much larger portion desire to remain on their lands, and lay 
their bones where rest those of their ancestors. The papers 
(said Mr. C.) which I now present, emanate from the minor por- 
tion of the Cherokees ; from those who are in favor of emigra- 
tion. They present a case which appeals strongly to the sym- 
pathies of Congress. They say that it is impossible for them 
to continue to live under laws which they do not understand, pass- 
ed by authority in Avhich they have no share, promulgated in 
language of which nothing is known to the greater portion of 
them, and establishing rules for their government entirely una- 
dapted to their nature, education and habits. They say that de- 
struction is hanging over them if they remain ; that, their right 
of self-government being destroyed, though they are sensi- 
ble of all the privations and hardships and sufferings of banish- 
ment from their native homes, they prefer exile, with liberty, to 
residence in their homes with slavery. They implore, therefore, 
the intervention of the general government, to provide for their 
removal west of the Mississippi, and to establish guarantees, ne- 
ver hereafter to be violated, of the possession of the lands to be 
acquired by them west of the Mississippi, and of the perpetual 
right of seli-government. This was the object of the resolutions 
and petition, which, Mr. C. said, he was about to offer to the 
Senate. 

But (said Mr. C.) I have thought that this occasion was one 
which called upon me to express the opinions and sentiments 



280 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES, 

which I lioltl ia relatio". to this entire subject, as respects not 
only the emigrating IncUans, but those, also, who are desirous to 
remain at home ; in short, to express, in concise terms, my views 
of the relatioas, between the Indian tribes, and the people of the 
United Stales, tiie rights of both parties, and the duties of this 
government in regard to them. 

The rights of the In;Jians, Mr. C. said, were to be ascertained, 
in the first, placo, by the solemn stipulations of numerous trea- 
ties maiie with them by the United States. It was not his pur- 
pose to call the attention of the Senate to all the treaties which 
have been made with Indian tribes bearing on this particular top 
ic: but he felt constrained to ask the attention of the Senate to 
some portions of those treaties which have been made with the 
Cherokees and to tiie memorable treaty of Greenville, which had 
terminated the war that previously thereto, for many years, 
raged beUveen the United States and the northwestern Indian 
tribes. He fnind, upon consv;lting the collection of Indian trea- 
ties in hi^; hand, that, within the last half century, fourteen differ- 
ent treaties had been concluded with the Cherokees, the first of 
which boi-8 date in the year 1775, and some one or more of whicb 
had been concluded under every administration of the general 
governmient, from tlie beginning of it to the present time, ex 
cept the present administration, and that which immediately pre- 
ceded it. Tiie treaty of Hopewell, the first in the series, was 
concluded in 1775, in "the third article of which "the said Indians, 
for themselves and their respective tribes and towns, do acknow- 
ledge all the Cherokees to be under the protection of the United 
States oi' America, ami of no other sovereign whatsoever.'''' The 
5th article of the same treaty provides that " If any citizen of 
the United States, or other person, not being an Indian, shall at- 
tempt to settle on any of the lands westward or southward of tlie 
said boundary, which are hereby allotted to the Indians for their 
hunting grounds, or, having already settled, and will not remove 
from the same within six months after the ratification of this 
treaty, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United 
States, and the Indians may punish him or not, as they please: 
provided, nevertheless, that this article shall not extend to the 
people settled between the fork of French Broad and Holston 
rivers," &c. 

The next treaty in the scries, which was concluded after the 
establishment of the government of the United States, under the 
auspices of the father of his country, was in the year 1791, or. 
the banks of the Holston, and contains the following provision; 
"Art. 7. The United States solemnly guaranty to the Cher- 
okee nation all their lands not hereby ceded." This, Mr. C. said, 
was not an ordinary assurance of protection, &c., but a soleinr^ 
guarantij of the rights of the Cherokees to the lands in question. 
The next treaty to which he would call the attention of the Sen- 
ate, was concluded in 1794, also, under the auspices of General 
Washington, and declares as follows : " The undersigned, Henry 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 281 

Knox, secretary for the department of war, being authorized 
thereto by the President of the United States, in behalf of tha 
said United States, and the undersigned chiels and warriors, in 
their own names, and in behah' of the whole Cherokee nation, 
are desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship between the 
eaid parties in a permanent manner, do hereby declare, that the 
said treaty of Holston is, to all intents and purposes, in full 
force and binding upon the said parties, as well in respect to the 
boundaries therein mentioned, as in all other res])ects whatever." 
This treaty, it is seen, renews the solemn guaranty corrtained in 
tlic preceding treaty, and declares it to be binding and obliga- 
tory upon the parties, in all respects whatever. 

Again ; in another treaty, concluded in 1798, under the 
second Chief Magistrate of the United States, we find the fol- 
lowing stipulations : " Art. 2. The treaties subsisting between 
tlie present contracting parties, are, acknowledged to be of full 
and operating force ; together with the construction and' usage 
under their respective articles, and so to continue." "Art. 3. 
The limits and boundaries of the Cherokee nation, as stipulated 
and marked by the existing treaties between the parties, shall 
be and remain the same, where not altered by the present treaty." 

There were other provisions, in other treaties, to which, if he 
did not intend to take up as little time as possible of the Senate, 
he might adv-antageously call their attention. He would, how- 
ever, pass on to one of the last treaties with the Cherokees, 
which was concluded in the year 1817. That treaty recognized 
the difference existing between the two portions of the Chero- 
kees, one of which was desirous to remain at homo and prosecute 
the good work of civilization, in which they had made some 
progress, and the other portion was desirous to go beyond the 
Mississippi. In that treaty, the fifth article, after several other 
stipulations, concludes as follows : "And it is further stipulated, 
that the treaties heretofore between the Cherokee nation and 
tlie United States are to continue in full force \x\[\\ both parts 
of the nation, and both parts thereof entitled to all the privileges 
and immunities which the old nation enjoyed under the aforesaid 
treaties ; the United States reserving the right of estabhshing 
factories, a military post, and roads within the boundaries above 
defined." And to this treaty, thus emphatically renewing the 
recognition of the rights of the Indians, is signed the name, as 
one of the commissioners of the United States who negotiated 
it, of the present Chief Magistrate of the United States. 

These were the stipulations in treaties with the Cherokee 
nation, to which, Mr. C. said, he thought proper to call the atten- 
tion of the Senate. He would now turn to the treaty of Green- 
ville, concluded about forty years ago, recognizing some general 
principles applicable to this subject. Mr. C. then quoted the 
fifth article of that treaty, as follows : " To prevent any misun- 
derstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the United 
24* 



282 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

States in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared, that the 
meaning of that relinquishment is this: the Indian tribes who 
have a right to those lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, 
planting and dwelling thereon so long as they please, without 
any molestation from the United States; but when those tribes, or 
any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part 
of them, they are to be sold only to the United States; and, 
until such sale, the United States will protect all the said Indian 
tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens 
of the United States, and against all other white persons who 
intrude upon the same. And the said Indian tribes again ac- 
knowledge themselves to be under the protection of the said 
United States, and no other power whatever." 

Such, sir, (said Mr. C.,) are the rights of the Indian tribes. 
And what are those rights? They are, that the Indians shall 
live under their ovv'n customs and laws; that they shall live upon 
their own lands, hunting, planting and dwelling thereon so long 
as they please, without interruption or molestation of any sort 
from the white people of the United States, acknowledging 
themselves under the protection of the United States, and of no 
other power whatever; that when they no longer wish to keep 
the lands, they shall sell them only to the United States, whose 
government thus secures to itself the pre-emptive right of pur- 
chase in them. These rights, so secured by successive treaties 
and guaranties, hav^e also been recognized, on several occasions, 
by the highest judicial tribunals. Mr. C. here quoted l>om an 
opinion of the Supreme Court a passage declaring that the In- 
dians are acknowledged to have an unquestionable and hereto- 
fore unquestioned right to their land, until it shall be extin- 
guished by voluntary cession to this government. 

But (said Mr. C.) it is not at home alone that the rights of the 
Indians within the limits of the United States have been recog- 
nized. Not only has the Executiv^e, the Congress of the United 
States, and the Supreme Court, recognized these rights, but in 
one of the most important epochs of this government, and on 
one of the most solenm occasions in our intercourse with foreign 
powers, these rights of the Indian tribes have been acknow- 
ledged. You, sir, [addressing the President of the Senate,] will 
understand me at once to refer to the negotiation between the 
government of Great Britain and that of ihe United States, 
v/hich had for its object the termination of the late war between 
the two countries. Sir, it must be within your recollection, and 
that of every member of the Senate, that the hinge upon which 
that negotiation turned, the ground upon which it was for a long 
time apprehended that the conference between the commission- 
ers would terminate in a ruiiture of the negotiation between the 
two countries — was, the claim brought forward on that memora- 
ble occasion, by Great Britain, in behalf of the Indians within 
the limits of the United States. It will be recollected that she 
advanced, as a principle from which she would not recede, as 



/i 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 283 

a si)ia qua non, again and again, during the progress of the 
negotiation, that the Indians, as her allies, should be included in 
the treaty of peace which the negotiators were about forming ; 
that they should have a permanent boundary assigned them, 
and that neither Great Britain nor the United States should be 
at liberty to purchase their lands. 

Such were the pretensions urged on that occasion, which the 
commissioners of the United States had felt it to be their im- 
perative duty to resist. To establish, as the boundary, the line 
of the treaty of Greenville, as proposed, which would have ex- 
cluded from tiae benefit of American laws and privileges a 
population of not less than a hundred thousand of the inhabit- 
ants of Oliio, American citizens, entitled to the protection of the 
government, was a proposition which the American negotiators 
could not for a moment entertain: they would not even refer it to 
tlieir government, though assured that it would there meet tlie 
same unanimous rejection that it did from them. But it became 
a matter of some importance that a salisl'actory assurance should 
be given to Great Britain that the war, which we were about to 
bring to a conclusion with her, should close also with her allies : 
and what was that assurance ? Mr. C. said he would not trouble 
the Senate with tracing the whole account of that negotiation, 
but he begged leave to call their attention to one of the passages 
of it. You will find, (said Mr. C,) on examining the history of 
the negotiation, that the demand brought forward by the British 
government, through tlieir minister, on this occasion, was the 
subject of several argumentative papers. Towards the close 
of this correspondence, reviewing the course pursued towards 
t!ie Aborigines by the several European powers which had 
planted colonies in America, comparing it with that of the Uni- 
ted States, and contrasting the lenity, kindness and forbearance 
of the United States, with the rigor and severity of other powers, 
the American negotiators expressed themselves as follows: 

"From the rigor of this system however as practised by 
Great Britain, and all the other European powers in America, 
the humane and liberal policy of the United States has volun- 
tarily relaxed. A celebrated writer on the law of nations, to 
whose authority British jurists have taken particular satisfaction 
in appealing, after statintr, in the most explicit manner, the 
legitimacy of colonial settlements in America, to the exclusion 
of all rights of uncivilized Indian tribes, has taken occasion to 
praise the first settlers of New-England, and of the founder of 
Penns3'lvania, in having purchased of the Indians the lands they 
resolved to cultivate, notwithstanding their being furnished with 
a charter from their sovereign. It is this example which the 
United States, since they became by their independence the sov- 
ereigns of the territory, have adopted and organized vito a po- 
litical system. Under that system the Indians residing in the 
United States are so far independent that they live wider their 
own customs, and not under the laws of the United States ; that 



■284 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

tlieir rights upon tlie lands whore they inhabit or hunl art se- 
cured to them bij howul-aries defineil in amicable treaties between 
tJie United States and themselves; and that whenever those 
boundaries are varied, it is also by amicable and voluntary trea- 
ties, by which they receive from tlie United States ample com- 
pensation for every right they have to the lands ceded by them," 
&c. 

The correspondence was further continued ; and finally the 
commissioners on tlie part of Great Britain proposed an article 
to which the American commissioners assented, the basis of 
which is a declaration of what is the state of the lav/ between 
the Indian tribes and the people of the United States. They 
tiien proposed a further article, which declared that the United 
Statea should endeavor to restore peace to the Indians who had 
acted on the side of Great Britain, together with all the rights, 
possessions, privileges and immunities which they possessed pri- 
or to the year 1811, that is, antecedent to the Avar between Eng- 
land and the United States; in consideration that Great Britain 
would terminate the war so fiir as respected the Indians who had 
been allies of the United States, and restore to them all the rights, 
privileges, possessions and immunities which these also had en- 
joyed previously to the same period. Mr. President, I here state 
my solemn belief that, if the American commissioners had not 
declared the laws between the Indians and the people of this 
country, and the rights of the Indians to be such as they are sta- 
ted to be in the extracts I have read to the Senate; if they had 
then stated that any one state of this Union who happened to 
have Indians residing within its limits, possessed the right of ex- 
tending over them the laws of such state, and of taking their 
lands when and how it pleased, that the effect would have been 
a prolongation of the war. I again declare my most solemn be- 
lief, that Great Britain, who assented witli great reluctance to 
this mutual stipulaiion with respect to the Indians, never would 
have done it at all, but under a conviction of the correspondence 
of those principles of Indian inter-national law, (if I may use 
Ruch a phrase,) with those which the United States government 
had respected ever since the period of our independence. 

Sir, if I am right ia tliis, let me ask whether in adopting the 
new code which now prevails, and by which the rights of the 
Indians have been trampled on, and themost solemn obligations 
of tri>atifis hav'e been disregarded, we are not chargeable with 
having induced that power to conclude a peace with us by sug 
gestions utterly unfounded and erroneous ? 

Most of the treaties between the Cherokee nation of Indian,' 
and the United States have been submitted to the Senate foi 
ratification, and the Senate have acted upon them in conformity 
with their constitutional power. Besides the action of the Sen- 
ate, as a legislative body, in the enactment of laws in conform- 
ity with their stipulations, regulating the intercourse of our citi- 
zens with thai nation, it has acted in its separate character, and 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 285 

confirmed the treaties tliemselves by the constitutional majority 
of two-thirds of its members. Thus have those treaties been 
sanctioned by the government of the United States and by every 
branch of tiiat government ; by the Senate, the executive, and 
the Supreme Court ; both at home and abroad. But not only 
have the rights of the Cherokees received all these recognitions; 
they have been, by implication, recognized by the state of Geor- 
gia itself, in the act of 1S02, in which she stipulated that the go- 
vernment of the United States, and not the state of Georgia, 
should extinguish the Indian title to land within her limits ; and 
the general government has been, from time to time, urged by 
Georgia to comply with its engagement?, from that period until 
the adoption of tiie late new policy upon this subject. 

Having thus, Mr. President, staled, as I hope with clearness, 
the RIGHTS of the Indian tribes, as recognized by the most sol- 
emn acts that can bo entered into by any government, let me, in 
the next place, inquire into the nature of the injur!E9 which 
have been inflicted upon them ; in other words, into the present 
condition of these Cherokees, to whom protection has been as- 
sured as well by solemn treaties as by tlie laws and guaranties 
of the United States government. 

And here let me be permitted to say that I go into this sub- 
ject with feelings which no language at my command will enable 
me adequately to express. I assure the senate, and in an espe- 
cial manner do I assure the honorable senators from Georgia, 
that my wish and purpose is any other than to excite the slight- 
est possible irritation on the part of any human being. Far 
from it. I am actuated only by feelings of grief, feelings of 
sorrow, and of prolbund regret, irresistibly called lorth by a 
contemplation of the miserable condition to which these unfor- 
tunate people have been reduced by acts of legislation proceed- 
ing from one of the states of this confederacy. I again assure 
the honorable senators from Georgia, that, if it has become my 
painful duly to comment upon some of these acts, I do it not with 
any desire to place them, or the state they represent, in ah in- 
vidious position ; but because Georgia was, I believe, the first 
in the career, the object of which seems to be the utter annihila- 
tion of every Indian right, and because she has certainly, in the 
promotion of it, far outstripped every other state in the Union. 

I have not before me the various acts of the state in reference 
to the Indians within her bounds ; and it is possible I may be 
under some mistake in reference to them ; and if I am. no one 
will correct the error more readily, or with greater pleasure. 

If, however, I had all those laws in my hands, I should not 
now attempt to read them. Instead of this, it will be sufficient 
, for me to state the eftects which have been produced by them 
- upon the condition of the Cherokee Indians residing in that 
state. And here follows a list of what has been done by her 
legislature. Her first act v/as to abolish the government of these 
Cherokees. No human community can exist without a govern- 



286 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

ment of some kind ; nn;l the Cherokecs, imitating our example, 
and having learned Cr^nn iis something of the principles of a i'ren 
constitution, established for themselves a government somewhat 
resembling our own. It is quite inunaterial to us what its form 
was. They always had had some government among them : and 
we guaranteed to tiiem the right of living under their own laws 
and customs, unmolested by any one; insomuch that our own 
citizens were outlawed should they presume to interfere with 
them. What particular regulations they adopted in the manage- 
ment of thsir humble and limited concerns is a matter with 
which we have no concern. However, the very first act of the 
Georgia legislature was to abolish all government of every sort 
among these people, and to extend the laws and government of 
the state of Georgia over them. The next step Avas to divide 
tlieir territory into counties; the next, to survey the Cherokee 
lands ; and the last, to distribute this land among the citizens 
of Georgia by lottery, giving to every head of a family one tick- 
et, and the prize in land that should be drawn against it. 
To be sure there were many reservations for the heads of Indian 
families; and of how much did gentlemen suppose? — of one 
hundred and sixty acres only, and this to include their improve- 
ments. But even to tliis limited possession the poor Indian was 
to have no fee sinin.le title: he was to hold as a mere occupant 
at the will of the state of Georgia for just as long or as short a 
time as she might think proper. The laws at the same time 
gave him no one political rigiit whatever. He could not become 
a member of the state legislature, nor could he hold any office 
under state authority, nor could he vote as an elector. He pos- 
sessed not one sin<.ile right of a freeman. No, not even the poor 
privilege of testifying to his wrongs in the character of a Avitness 
in the courts of Georgia, or in any mavter of controversy what- 
soever. 

These, Mr. President, are the acts of the legislature of the 
state of Georgia, in relation to the Indians. They were not aU 
passed at one session; (hey were enacted, time after time, a.=i 
tlic state advanced further and further in her steps to the acqui- 
sition of the Indian country, and the destruction and annihila- 
tion of all Indian rights; until, by a recent act of the same body, 
the courts of the slate itself are occluded against the Indian suf- 
ferer, and he is actually denied an appeal even to foreign tribu- 
nals, in the erection and in the laws of which he had no voice, 
there to complain of his wrongs. If he enters the hall of Geor- 
gia's justice, it is upon a surrender at the threshold of all hia 
rights. The history of this last law, to which I have alluded is this. 
When the previous law of the state dividing the Indian lands by 
lottery was passed, some Indians made an appeal to one of tho 
judges of the state, antl applied for an injunction against the pro- 
ceeding; and such was the undeniable justice o^ their plea, thai 
the judge found himself unable to reiuse it, and he granted 
the injunction sought. It was that injunct'o'i which led to the 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 287 

passage of this act : to some of the provisions of which I now 
invite the attention of tlie Senate. And first to the title of 
the act: "A bill to amend an act entitled an act more effectu- 
ally to provide for the government and protection of the Chero- 
kee Indians residing within the limits of Georgia, and to pre- 
scribe the bounds of their occupant claims; and also to author- 
ize grants to issue for lots drawn in the late land and gold lot- 
teries" — Ah, sir, it was the pursuit of gold which led the Spanish 
invader to desolate the fair fields of Mexico and Peru — •' and 
to provide lor the aj)pointment of an agent to carry certain 
parts tliereof into execution; and to fix the salary of such agent, 
and to punish those persons who may deter Indians from en- 
rolling for emigration, passed 20th i3ecember, 1833." Well, 
sir, this bill goes on to provide '• that it shall be the duty of the 
agent or agents appointed by his excellency the governor, under 
the authority of this or the act of which it is amendatory, to re- 
port to him the number, district and section of all lots of land 
subject to be granted by the provisions of said act, which he 
may be required to do by the drawer, or his agent, or the person 
claiming the same ; and it shall be the duty of his excellency 
the governor, upon the application of the drawer of any of the 
aforesaid lots, his or her special agents, or the person to whom 
the drawer may have bona fide conveyed the same, his agent 
or assigns, to issue a grant therefor ; and it sliall be the duty of 
the said agent or agents, upon the production of the grant so 
issued as aforesaid by the grantor, his or her agent, or the per- 
son, or his or her agent to whom the said land so granted as 
aforesaid may have been bona fide conveyed, to deliver posses- 
sion of said granted lot to the said grantee, or person entitled to 
the possession of the same under the provisions of this act, or 
the act of which this is amendatory, and his excellency the gov- 
ernor is hereby authorized, upon satisfactory evidence that the 
said agent is impeded or resisted in delivering such possessio.!, 
by a force which he cannot overcome, to order out a sufficient 
force to carry the power of said agent or agents fully into effect, 
and to pay the expenses of the same out of the contingent fund : 
provided nothing in this act shall be so construed as to require 
the interference of the said agent between two or more individu- 
als claiming possession, by virtue of titles derived from a grant 
from the state to any lot." 

Thus, after the state of Georgia had distributed the lands of 
the Indians by lottery, and the drav\'ers of })rizes were autlior- 
izcd to receive grants of the land drawn, and with these graniB 
in their hand were authorized to demand of the agent of the 
state, appointed for the purpose, to be put in possession of the 
soil thus obtained ; and if any resistance to their entrj^ should 
be made, and who was to make it but a poor Indian? the gov- 
ernor is empowered to turn out the military force of the state. 
and enable the agent to take possession by force, without t.'-ial, 
without judgment, and without investigation. 



288 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

But, should there be two claimants of the prize, ehotild ttvd 
of the ticket holders dispute their claim to the same lot, then 
no military force was to be used. It was only when the resis- 
tance was by an Indian — it was only when Indian rights should 
come into collision with the alledged rights of the state of Geor- 
gia, that the strong hand of military power was instantly to in- 
terpose. 

The next section of the act is in these words : " And be it 
further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That if any person 
dispossessed of a lot of land under this act, or the act of which 
it is amendatory, shall go before a justice of the peace or of the 
inferior court, and make atBdavit that he or she was not liable 
to be dispossessed under or by any of the provisions of this or 
the aforesaid act, and file said affidavit in the clerk's office of 
the superior court of the county in which said land shall lie, 
such person upon giving bond and security in the clerk's office 
for the costs to accrue on the trial, shall be permitted within 
ten days from such dispossessing to enter an appeal to said 
superior court, and at said court the judge shall cause an issue 
to be made up between the appellant and the person to whom 
possession of said land was delivered by either of said agents, 
which said issue shall be in the following form." 

Mr. Cuthbert, of Georgia, here interposed: and having ob- 
tained Mr. Clay's consent to explain, stated that he had unfor- 
tunately not been in the Senate wlien the honorable senator 
commenced his speech ; but had learned that it was in support 
of a memorial from certain Cherokee Indians in the state of 
Georgia, who desired to emigrate. He must be permitted to 
say, that the current of the honorable senator's remarks did 
not suit remarkably well the subject of such a memorial. A 
memorial of a dift'erent kind had been presented, and which 
tlie committee on Indian affairs had before it, to which the 
senator's remarks would better apply. The present discussion 
was v/holly unexpected, and it seemed to him not in consistency 
with the object of the memorial he had presented. 

Mr. Clay replied that he was truly sorry the honorable gentle- 
man had been absent when he commenced speaking. He had 
delayed presenting the memorial because he observed that 
neither of the senators from Georgia was in his scat, until the 
hour when they might be expected to be present, and when one 
of them, (Mr. King.) had actually taken his seat. If the honor- 
able senator had been present he would have heard Mr. Clay 
■ay that he thought the presentation of the memorial a fit 
occasion to express his sentiments, not only touching the rights 
of these individual petitioners, but on the rights of all the Indian 
tribes, and their relations to this government. And if he would 
have but a little patience he would find that it was Mr. Clay'a 
intention to present propositions which went to embrace both re- 
solutions. 

Mr. Clay now resumed the course of his speech. And here. 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 289 

Mr. President, let me pause and invite the attention of the senate 
to the provision in the act of Georgia which I was reading, 
(the substance of which Mr. Clay here repeated) — that is, tliat 
ne may have the privilege of an appeal to a tribunal of justice, 
by forms and by a bond with the nature and force of which 
he is unacquainted; and that then he may have — what beside? 
I invoke tiie attention of the Senate to this part of the law. 
What, I ask, does it secure to the Indian? His rights? The 
rights recognized by treaties? The rights guarantied to him by 
the most solemn acts which human governments can perform? 
No. It allows him to come into the courts of the state, and there 
to enjoy the benefit of the summary proceeding called in the act 
" an appeal" — but which can never be continued beyond a se- 
cond term ; and when he comes there, what then? He shall 
be permitted to come into court and enter an appeal, which 
shall be in the following form : 

'•A. B., who was dispossessed of a lot of land by an agent of 
the state of Georgia, comes into court, and admitting the right 
of the state of Georgia to pass the law under which agent acted, 
avers that he was not liable to be dispossessed of said land, by 
or under any one of the provisions of the act of the general as- 
sembly of Georgia, passed 20th December, 1S33, ' more etiectu- 
ally to provide for the protection of the Cherokee Indians residing 
within the limits of Georgia, and to prescribe the bounds of their 
occupant claims, and also to authorize grants to issue for lots 
drawn in the land and gold lotteries in certain cases, and to pro- 
vide for the appointment of an agent to carry certain parte 
thereof into execution, and fi.K the salary of such agent, and to 
punish those persons who may deter Indians, from enrolling for 
emigration,' or the act amendatory thereoi', passed at the session 
of the legislature of 1834: 'in which issue the person to whom 
possession of said land was delivered shall join; and which 
issue shall constitute the entire pleadings between the parties; 
nor shall the court allow any matter other than is contained 
in said issue to be placed upon the record or files of said 
court; and said cause shall be tried at the first term of th« 
court, unless good cause shall be shown for a continuance, 
and the same party shall not be permitted to continue said 
cause more than once, except for unavoidable providential 
cause: nor shall said court at the instance of either party 
pass any order or grant any injunction to stay said cause, 
nor permit to be engrafted on said cause any other proceedings 
whatever.' " 

At the same time we find, by another enactment, the judge« 
of the courts of Georgia are restrained from granting injunctions:, 
BO that the only form in which the Indian can come before 
them is in the form of an appeal ; and in this, the very firtfl 
step is an absolute renunciation of the rights he holds by treaty, 
and the unqualified admission of the rights of his antafifonist, 
25 



290 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

as conferred by the laws of Georgia ; and the court is expressly 
prohibited from putting any thing else upon the record. Why? 
do we not all know the reason ? If the poor Indian was allowed 
to put in a plea stating his rights, and the court should then de- 
cide against him, the cause would go upon an appeal to the 
supreme court; the decision could be re-examined, could be 
annulled, and the authority of treaties vindicated. But, to pre- 
vent this, to make it impossible, he is compelled, on entering the 
court, to renounce his Indian rights, and the court is forbidden 
to put any thing on record whicii can bring up a decision upon 
them. 

Mr. President, I have already stated that, in the observations 
I have made, I am actuated by no other leelings than such as 
ought to be in the breast of every honest man, the feelings of 
common justice. I would say nothing, I would whisper nothing, 
I would insinuate nothing, I would think nothing, which can, in 
the remotest degree, cause irritation in the mind of any one, of 
any senator here, of any state in this Union, I have loo much 
respect for every member of the confederacy. I feel nothing 
but grief for the wretched condition of these raosi unfortunate 
people, and every emotion of my bosom dissuades me from 
the use of epithets that might raise emotions which should 
draw the attention of the Senate from the justice of their 
claims. I forbear to apply to this law any epithet of any kind. 
Sir, no epithet is needed. The features of the law itself; its 
warrant tor the interposition of military power, when no trial 
and no judgment has been allowed ; its denial oi any appeal, 
unless the unhappy Indian shall first renounce his own rights, 
and admit the rights of his opponent — features such as these 
are enough to show what the true character of the act is, and 
supersede the necessity of all epithets, were I even capable of 
applying any. 

^The Senate will thus perceive that the whole power of the 
state of Georgia, military as well as civil, has been made io 
bear upon these Indians, without their having any voi^e in 
forming, judging upon, or executing the laws under which he ia 
placed, and witliout even the poor privilege, of establishing the 
injury he may have suffered by Indian evidence: nay, worse 
still, not even by the evidence of a v/hite man ! Because the re- 
nunciation of his rights precludes all evidence, white or black, 
civilized or savage. There tben he lies, witli his property, his 
rights and every privilege which makes human existence desira- 
ble, at the mere mercy of the state of Georgia ; a state, in 
whose government or laws he has no voice. Sir, it is impossi- 
ble for {he most active imagination to conceive a condition of 
human society more perfectly wretched. Shall I be told that 
the condition of the African slave is worse? No, sir, no 
sir. It is not worse. The interest of the master makes it at 
once his duty and his inclination to provide for the comfort and 
the health of his slave : for without these he would be unprofit- 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 291 

able. Both pricle and interest render the master prompt in vin- 
dicating the rights oi' his slave, and protecting him from the op- 
pression of others, and the laws secure to him the amplest means 
to do so. But who — what human being, stands in the relation 
of master or any other relation, which makes Jiim interested in 
the preservation and protection of the poor Indian thus degraded 
and miserable ? Thrust out from human society, without the 
sympathies of any, and placed without the pale of common jus- 
tice, who is there to protect him, or to defend his rights ? 

Such, Mr. President, is the present condition of these Chero- 
kee memorialists, whose case it is my duty to submit to the con- 
sideration of the Senate. There remains but one more inquiry 
before I conclude. Is there any remedy within the scope of the 
powers of the federal government as given by the constitution? 
If we are without the power, if we have no constitutional author- 
ity, then we are also without responsibilitJ^ Our regrets may 
be excited, our sympathies may be moved, our humanity may 
be shocked, our hearts may be grieved, but if our hands are tied, 
we can only unite with all the good, the Christian, the benevo- 
lent portion of the human family, in deploring what we cannot 
prevent. 

But, sir, we are not thus powerless. I stated to the Senate, 
when I began, that there are two classes of the Cherokees; one 
of these classes desires to emigrate, and it was their petition I 
presented this morning, and with respect to these, our powers 
are ample to afford them the most liberal and effectual relief. 
They wish to go beyond the Mississippi, and to be guarantied 
in the possession of the country which may be there assigned to 
them. As the Congress of the United States have full powers 
over the territories, we may give them all the guaranty which 
Congress can express for the undisturbed possession of their 
lands. With respect to their case there can be no question as to 
our powers. 

And then, as to those who desire to remain on this side the 
river, I ask again, are we powerless ? Can we aflx)rd them no 
redress 7 Must we sit still and see the injury they suffer, and 
extend no hand to relieve them ? It were strange indeed, were 
such the case. Why have we guarantied to them the enjoyment 
of their own laws? Why have we pledged to them protection? 
Why have we assigned them limits of territory ? Why have 
we declared that they shall enjoy their homes i.n peace, without 
molestation from any? If the United States' government has 
contracted these serious obligations, it ought, before the Indians 
were reduced by our assurances to rely upon our engagement, to 
have explained to them its want of authority to make the con- 
tract. Before we pretend to Great Britain, to Europe, to the 
civilized world, that such were the rights we would secure to 
the Indians, we ought to have examined the extent and the 
grounds of our own rights to do so. But is such, indeed our 
eituation ? No, sir. Georgia has shut her courts against these 



292 ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

Indians. What is the remedy ? To open ours. Have we not 
the right? What says the constitution? " The judicial power 
shall extend to all cases in law and equity, arising under this 
constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, 
or which shall be made, under their authority." 

But here was a case of conflict between tlie rights of the pro- 
prietors and the local laws ; and here was the very case which 
the constitution contemplated, when it declared that the power 
of the federal judiciary should extend to all cases under the 
authority of the United States. Therefore it was fully within 
the competence of Congress, under the provisions of the consti- 
tution, to provide the manner in which the Cherokees might 
have their rights decided, because a grant of the means was in- 
cluded in the grant of jurisdiction. It was competent, then 
for Congress to decide whether the Cherokee had a right to 
come into a court of justice and to make an appeal to the 
highest audioritj'- to sustain tlie solemn treaties under which 
their rights jiad been guarantied, and in the sacred character 
of whicli they had reposed their confidence. And if Congress 
possessed the power to extend relief to tiie Indians, were they 
not bound by the most sacred of human considerations, the ob- 
ligations of treaties, the protection assured them, by every 
Christian tie, every benevolent feeling, every humane impulse 
of the human heart, to extend it ? If they were to fail to do 
this, and there was, as reason and revelation declared there 
was, a tribunal of eternal justice to which all human power was 
amenable, how could they, if they refused to peribrm their duties 
to this injured and oppressed, though civilized race, expect to 
escape the visitations of that Divine vengeance which none 
would be permitted to avoid who had committed wrong, or done 
injustice to others ? 

At this moment, when the United States were urging on the 
government of France the fulfilment of the obligations of the 
treaty concluded with that country, to the execution of which 
it was contended that France had plighted her sacred faith, 
what strength, what an irresistible force would be given to our 
plea, if we could say to France that, in all instances, we had 
completely fulfilled all our engagements, and that Ave had ad- 
hered faithfully to every obligation which we had contracted, 
no matter whether it was entered into with a powerful or a 
weak people ; if we could say to her that we had complied with 
all our engagements to others, that we now came before her, al- 
ways acting right as we had done, to induce her also to fulfil her 
obligations to us. How should we stand in the eyes of France 
and of the civilized world, if, in spite of the most solemn treaties, 
which had existed for half a century, and had been recog- 
nized in every form, and by every branch of the government, 
how would they be justified if they suffered these treaiies to be 
trampled under foot, and the rights which they were given to 
secure trodden into the dust? How would Great Britain, after 



ON THE INDIAN TRIBES. 293 

the solemn understanding entered into with her at Ghent, feel 
after such a breach of faith? And how could he, as a com- 
missioner on the negotiation of that treaty, hold up his head 
before Great Britain, after having been thus made an instru- 
ment of fraud and deception, as he assuredly would have been, 
if the rights of the Indians are to be thus violated, and the 
treaties, by which they v/ere secured, violated? How could 
he hold up his head, after such a violation of rights, and say 
that he was proud of his country, of which they they all must 
wish to be proud? 

For himself, he rejoiced that he had been spared, and allowed 
a suitable opportunity to present his views and opinions on this 
great national subject, so interesting to the national character 
of the country for justice and equity. He rejoiced that the 
voice which, without charge of presumption or arrogance, he 
might say, was ever raised in defence of the oppressed of the 
human species, had been heard in defence of this most oppressed 
of all. To him, in that awful hour of death, to which all must 
come, and which, with respect to himself, could not be very far 
distant, it would be a source of the highest consolation that an 
opportunity had been found by him, on the floor of the Senate, 
in the discharge of his official duty, to pronounce his views on a 
course of policy marked by such wrongs as were calculated 
to arrest the attention of every one, and that he had raised his 
humble voice, and pronounced his solemn protest against such 
wrongs. 

Mr. C. would no longer detain the Senate, but would submit 
the following propositions: 

Resolved, That the committee on the judiciary be directed to 
inquire into the expediency of making further provision, by law, 
to enable Indian nations, or tribes, to whose use and occupancy 
lands are secured by treaties concluded between them and the 
United States, to defend and maintain their rights to such lands 
in the courts of the United States, in conformity with the con- 
stitution of the United States. 

Resolved, That the committee on Indian affairs be directed to 
inquire into the expediency of making further provision, by law, 
for setting apart a district of country west of the Mississippi 
river, for such of the Cherokee nation as may be disposed to 
emigrate and to occupy the same, and for securing in perpetuity 
the peaceful and undisturbed enjoyment thereof to the emi- 
grants and their descendants. 
25* 



294 ON THE APPOINTING 



ON THE APPOINTING AND REMOVING 
POWER. 

Delivered in the Senate on the 18th of February, on the passage 
of the bill entitled "4n act to repeal the first and second sec- 
tions of the act to limit the term of service of certain officers 
therein named.^'' 

Mr. Clay thought it extremely fortunate that this subject of 
executive patronage came up, at this session, unencumbered by 
any collateral question. At the last session Ave had the removal 
of the deposites, the treasury report sustaining it, and the pro- 
test of tlie President against the resolution of the Senate. The 
bank mingled itself in all our discussions, and the partizans of 
executive power availed themselves of the prejudices which 
had been artfully excited against that institution, to deceive 
and blind the people as lo the enormity of executive pretensions. 
The banlc has been doomed to destruction, and no one now 
thinks the recharter of it practicable, or ought to be attempted. 
I fear, said Mr. C, that the people will have just and severe 
cause to regret its destruction. The administration of it was 
uncommonly able ; and one is at a loss which most to admire, 
the imperturbable temper or the wisdom of its enlightened 
President. No country can possibly possess a better general 
currency than it supplied. The injurious consequences of the 
sacrifice of this valuable institution will soon be felt. There 
beincr no longer any sentinel at the head of our banking es- 
tablishments, to warn them, by its information and operations, 
of approaching danger, the local institutions, already multiplied 
to an alarming extent, and almost daily multiplying, in seasons 
of prosperity, wdl make free and unrestrained emissions. All 
the channels of circulation will become gorged. Property Avill 
rise extravagantly liigh, and, constantly looking up, the tempta- 
tion to purchase will be irresistible. Inordinate speculation will 
ensue, debts will be freely contracted, and when the season of 
adversity comes, as come it must, the banks, acting without con- 
cert and without guide, obeying the law of self-preservation, 
will all at the same time call in their issues; the vast number 
will exaggerate the alarm, and general distress, wide-spread 
ruin, and an explosion of the whole banking system, or the ea- 
tablishment of a new bank of the United States, will be the ulti- 
mate eftects. 

"We can now deliberately contemplate the vast expansion of 
executive power, under the present administration, free from 
embarrassment. And is there any real lover of civil hberty 
who can beliold it without great and just alarm? Take the 
doctrines of the protest and the Secretary's report together, and, 
instead of having a balanced government with tlirce co-ordinat8 



AND REMOVING POWER. 295 

departments, we have bat one power in the state. According to 
those papers all the ofTicers concerned in tlie adminislralion of 
the laws are bound to obey the President. His will controls 
every branch of the administration. No matter that the law may 
have assigned to other officers of the government specifically 
defined duties; no matter that tlie theory of the consliiution and 
the law supposes them bound to ihe tlischary;e of tiiosc duties 
according to their own judgment, and under their own rcsponsi- 
bihty, and hable to impeachment for malfeasance; thoAvill of the 
President, even in opposition to tlicir own deliberate sense of 
their obligations, is to prevail, and expulsion from olfice is the 
penalty of disobedience! It has not, indeed, in terms, been 
claimed, but it is a legitimate consequence from the doctrine as- 
serted, that all decisions of the judicial tribunals, not conlbrina- 
ble with the President's opinion, must be inoperative, since ti:e 
officers charged with their exccation are no more exempt t'rom 
the pretendecl obligation to obey his orders than any other officer 
of the administration. 

The basis of this overshadowing superstructure of executive 
power is, the power of dismission, which it is one of the objects 
of the bill under consideration somewhat to reguhiti', but which 
it is contended by the supporters of executive authority is un- 
controlable. The practical exercise of this power, during this 
administration, has retluced the .salutary co-o])ei-ation of the Sen- 
ate, as approved by the Constitution, in all appointments, to an 
idle form. Of what avail is it that the Senate shall have passed 
upon a nomination, if the Presideni:, at anytime thercafier, even 
the next day, whether the Senate be in session or in vacation, 
without any known cause, may dismiss the incumbent? Let us 
examine the nature of this power. It is exercised in the recesses 
of the executive mansion, periiaps upon secret information. The 
accused othcer is not present nor Iteard, nor confronted with the 
witnesses against him, and the President is judge, juror and ex- 
ecutioner. No reasons are assigned for the dismission, and the 
public is left to conjecture the cause. Is not a power so exer- 
cised essentially a despotic power? It is adverse to the genius 
of all free governments, the foundation of wliich is responsibility. 
Responsibility is the vital principle of civil liberty, as irresponsi- 
bility is the vital ])rinciplc of despotism. Free government can 
no more exist without this principle than animal lilt; can be sus- 
tained without the presence of the atmosphere. But is not the 
President absolutely irresponsible in the exercise of this power? 
How can he be reached? By impeachment? it is a mockery. 

It has been truly said that the office was not made for the in- 
cumbent. Nor was it created for tlie incumbent of another office. 
In both and in all cases public offices are created for the public; 
and the people have a right to know why and wherefore one of 
their servants dismisses another. The abuses which have flowed 
and are likely to flow from this power, if unchecked, are inde- 
scribable. Plow often have all of us witnessetl the expulsion of 



296 ON THE APPOINTING 

the most faithful officers, of the highest character, and of the 
most undoubted probity, for no other imaginable reason, than 
diflerence in political senlinients? It begins in politics and may 
end in religion. If a President should be inclined to fanaticism, 
and the power should not be regulated, what is to prevent the 
dismission of every officer who does not belong to his sect, or 
persuasion? He may, perhaps truly, say il' he does not dismiss 
nim, that he has not liis confidence. It was the cant language of 
Cromwell and his associates, when obnoxious individuals were 
in or proposed ibr office, that they coukl not confide in them. — 
The tendency of this power is to revive the dark ages of feudal- 
ism, and to render every officer a feudatory. Tlie bravest man 
in office, whose employinent and bread depend upon the will of 
the President, will quail under the inlluenco of the power of dis- 
mission. If opjiosed in sentiments to the administration, he will 
begin by silence, and finally will be goaded into partisanship. 

The Senator from New-York, ('Mr. Wright,) in analyzing the 
list of 100,000 who are reported by the committee of patronage 
to draw money from the public treasury, contends that a large 
portion of tht'in con.-^ists of the army, the navy and revolutionary 
pensioners ; and, j)aying a just compliment to their gallantry and 
patriotism, asks, if iliey will allow themselves to be instrumental 
in the destruction of the liberties of their country? It is very 
remarkable that iiitherlo the power of dismission has not been 
applied to the army and navy, to whicli, from llie nature of the 
service, it would seem to be more necessary than to those in civ- 
il places. But accumulation and concentration are the nature 
of all power, and especially of executive power. And it, cannot 
be doubted that, if the power of dismission, as now exercised, in 
regard to civil olFiccrs, is sanctioned and sustained by the people, 
it will, in the end, be extended to the army and navy. When so 
extended, it will produce its usual elfcct of subserviency, or if 
the present army and navy should be too stern and upright to 
be mouldetl according to the ])leasure of the executive, we are 
to recollect that the individuals who compose them are not to 
live always, and may be succeeded by those who will be more 
pliant and yielding. But I would ask tJie Senator what has 
been the effect of this tremendous power of dismissiori upon the 
classes of officers to whi,ch it has b(!en applied? Upon the post 
office, the land office, and the custom house? They constitute 
po many co/yw d'annec. ready to further, on all occasions, the 
executive views and wishes. They take the lead in primary 
assemblies whenevi'r il is deemed expedient to applaud or sound 
the praises of the administration, or to carry out its purposes in 
relation to the succession. We are assured that a large majori- 
ty of the recent convention at Columbus, in Ohio, to nominate 
the President's successor, were office holders. And do you 
imagine that they would nominate any other than the President's 
known favorite? 

The power of removal as now exercised is, no where in the 



/ 



AND REMOVING POWER. 2^7 

constitution expressly recognized. The only mode of displacing 
a public officer for which it does provide, is by impeachment. — 
But it has been argued on this occasion, that it is a sovereign 
power, an inherent power, and an executive power; and, there- 
fore, that it belongs to the President. Neither the premises nor 
the conclusion can be sustained. If they could be, the people of 
the United States have all along totally misconceived the nature 
of their government, and the character of the office of their Su- 
preme Magistrate. Sovereign power is supreme power; and in 
no instance whatever is there any supreme power vested in the 
President. Whatever sovereign power is, if there be any, con- 
veyed by the constitution of the United Stales, is vested in Con- 
gress, or in the President and Senate. The power to declare 
war, to lay taxes, to coin money, is vested in Congress ; and the 
treaty making power in the President and Senate. The Post- 
master General has the power to dismiss his deputies. Is that a 
sovereign power, or has he any ? 

Inherent power ! That is a new principle to enlarge the pow- 
ers of the general government. Hitherto it has been supposed 
that there are no powers possessed by the government of the 
United States, or any branch of it, but such as are granted by 
the constitution ; and, in order to ascertain what has been grant- 
ed, that it was necessary to show the grant, or to establish that 
the power claimed was necessary and proper to execute some 
granted power. In other words, that there are no powers but 
those which are expressed or incidental. But it seems that a 
great mistake has existed. The partisans of the executive have 
discovered a third and more fruitful source of power. Inherent 
power! Whence is it derived? The constitution created the 
office of President, and made it just what it is. It had no pow- 
ers prior to its existence. It can" have none but those which are 
conferred upon it by the instrument which created it, or laws 
passed in pursuance of that instrument. Do gentlemen mean, by 
inherent power, such power as is exercised by the nionarchs or 
chief magistrates of other countries 1 If that be their meaning, 
they should avow it. 

It has been argued that tlie power of removal from office is an 
executive power ; that all executive power is vested in the Presi- 
dent; and that he is to see that the laws are faithl'ully executed, 
which, it is contended, he cannot do, unless, at his pleasure, he 
may dismiss any subordinate officer. 

The mere act of dismission or removal may be of an execu- 
tive nature, but the judgment or sentence which precedes it is a 
function of a judicial and not executive nature. Impeachments, 
which, as has been already observed, are the only mode of re- 
moval from office expressly provided ibr in the constitution, are 
to be tried by the Senate, acting as a judicial tribunal. In Eng- 
land, and in all the states, they are tried by judicial tribunals. — 
In several of the states removal from office sometimes is efi'ected 
by the legislative authority, as in the case of judges on the coa- 



293 ON THE APPOINTING 

currence of two-thirds of the members. The administration of 
the laws of the several slates proceetls regularly, without tiie ex- 
ercise on th.e part of the <rovernors oi' any power similar to tliat 
which is claimed for the President. In Kentucky, and in other 
states, the governor has no power to remove sheriffs, collectors 
of the revenue, clerks of courts, or any one officer employed in 
administration; and yet the governor, like ihe President, is con- 
stitutionally enjoined to see that the laws are iaithfully executed. 

The clause relied upon to prove that all executive power ia 
vested in the President, is the first section of the second article. 
On examining the constitution, we find that, according to its ar- 
rangement, it treats first of the legislative power, then of the ex- 
ecutive, and lastly of the judicial power. In each instance, it 
provides how those powers shall be respectively vested. The 
legislative power is confided to a Congress, and the constitution 
then directs how the members of the body shall be chosen, and, 
after having constituted the body, enumerates and careiully spe- 
cifies its powers. And the same course is observed both with 
the executive and the judiciary. In neither case does the pre- 
liminary clause convey any power ; but the powers of the seve- 
ral departments are to be sought ibr in the subsequent provis- 
ions. The legislative powers granted by the constitution are to 
be vested, how ? In a Congress. What powers ? Those which 
are enumerated. The executive power is to be vested, how? 
In a council, or in several ? No, in a President of the United 
States of America. What executive power? That which ia 
possessed by any Chief Magistrate, in any country, or that which 
speculative writers attribute to the executive head? No such 
thing. That power, and that only, which tlie constitution subse- 
quently assigns to the Chief Magistrate. 

The President is enjoined by tiie constitution to take care that 
the laws be iVuthfuliy executed. Under this injunction, the pow- 
er of dismission is claimed for him ; and it is contended that if 
those charged with the execution of the laws attempt to execute 
them in a sense dili'erent from that entertained by vhe President, 
he may prevent it, or withhold his co-operation. It would follow 
that, if the judiciary give to the law an interpretation variant 
from that of tlie President, he would not be bound to afford meana 
which might become necessary to execute their decision. If 
these pretensions are well founded, it is manifest that the Presi- 
dent, by means of the veto, in arresting the passage of laws 
which he disapproves, and the power of expounding those which 
are passed, according to his own sense of them, will become pos- 
sessed of all the practical authority of the whole government. — 
If the judiciary decide a law contrary to the President's opinion 
of its meaning, he may command the marshal not to execute the 
decision, and urge his constitutional obligation to take care that 
the laws be faithfully executed. It will be recollected, perhaps, 
by the Senate that, during the discussions on the deposite ques- 
tion, I predicted that tlie day would arrive when a President, dis- 



AND REMOVING POWER. 299 

posed to enlarge his powers, would appeal to his official oath as 
a source ot" power. In that oath he undertakes that he will, "to 
the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitu- 
tion of the United States." The fulfilment of the prediction 
quickly followed; and during the same session, in the protest of 
the President, we find him referring to this oath as a source of 
power and duty. Now, if the President, in virtue of his oath, 
may interpose and prevent any thing from being done, contrary 
to the constitution, as he understands it; and may, in virtue of 
the injunction to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, 
prevent the enforcement of any law contrary to the sense in 
which he understands it, I would ask what powers remain to any 
other branch of the government 1 Are they not all substantially 
absorbed in the WILL of one man ? 

The President's oath obliges him to do no more than every 
member of Congress is also hound by official oath to do : that is, 
to support the constitution of the United States in their respec- 
tive spheres of action. In the discharge of the duties specifi- 
cally assigned to him by the constitution and laws, he is forever 
to keep in vicv.ahe constitution ; and this every member of Con- 
gress is equally bound to do, in the passage of laws. To step 
out of his sphere ; to trench upon other departments of the gov- 
ernment, under the notion that they are about to violate the con- 
stitution, v/ould be to set a most pernicious and dangerous exam- 
ple of violation of the constitution. Suppose Congress, by two 
thirds of each branch, pass a law contrary to the veto of the 
President, and to his opinion of the constitution, is he afterwards 
at liberty to prevent its execution? The injunction, to which I 
have adverted, common both to the federal and most of the state 
constitutions, imposes only upon the Chief Magistrate the duty 
of executing those laws v>dth the execution of which he is spe- 
cially charged ; of supplying, when necessary, the means with 
which he is entrusted to enable others to execute those laws, the 
enforcement of which is confided to them ; and to communicate 
to Congress infractions of the laws, that the guilty maj^ be 
brought to punishment, or the defects of legislation remedied. — 
The most important branch of the government to the rights of 
the people, as it regards the mere execution of the lav»'s, is the 
judiciary; and yet they hold their offices by a tenure beyond the 
reach of the President. E'ar from impairing the efficacy of any 
powers with which he is invested, this permanent character in 
the judicial office is supposed to give stabihty and independence 
to the administration of justice. 

The power of removal from office not being one of those pow- 
ers which are expressly granted and enumerated in the consti- 
tution, and having, I hope, successfully shown that it is not es- 
Eentiaily of an executive nature, the question arises to what 
department of the government docs it belong, in regard to all 
offices created by law, or whose tenure is not defined in the con- 
Btitution ? There is much force in the argument which attaches 



300 ON THE APPOINTING 

the power of dismission to the President and Senate conjointly, 
as the appointing power. But I think we ma?t look for it to a 
broader and his/her source — the legislative department. The 
duty of appointment may be performed under a law which en- 
acts the mode ol' dismission. This is the case in the post office 
department, the Postmaster General being invested with both the 
power of appointment and of dismission. But they are not ne- 
cessarily allied, and the law might separate them ; and assign to 
one functionary the right to appoint, and to a ditlerent one the 
right to dismiss. Examples of such a separation may be found 
in the state governments. 

It is the legislative authority which creates the office, defines 
its duties, and may prescribe its duration. I speak, of course, 
of offices not created by the constitution, but the law. The of- 
fice, coming into existence by the will of Congress, the same will 
may provide how, and in wliat manner, the office and the officer 
shall both cease to exist. It may direct the conditions on which 
he shall hold the office, and when and how he sliall be dismissed. 
Suppose the constitution had omitted to prescribe the tenure of 
the judicial office, could not Congress do if? But the constitu- 
tion has not lixed the tenure of any subordinate offices, and there- 
fore Congress may supply the omission. It would be unreasonable 
to contend that, although Congress, in pursuit of the public good, 
brings the office and the officer into being, and assigns their pur- 
poses, yet the President has a control over the otEcer which Con- 
gress cannot reach or regulate ; and this control in virtue of some 
vague and undefined implied executive power which the friends 
of executive supremacy are totally unable to attach to any spe- 
ciflc clause in tlie constitution. 

It has been contended, with great ability, that under the clause 
of the constitution which declares that Congress shall have pow- 
er "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all others 
vested by this constitution in the government of the United 
States, or in any department or officer thereof,'''' Congress is the 
pole depository of implied powers, and that no other department 
or officer of the government possesses any. If this argument be 
correct, there is an end of the controversy. But if the power of 
dismission be incident to the legislative authority, Congress has 
the clear rigiit to regulate it. And if it belong to any other de- 
partment of the government, under the cited clause, Congress 
has the power to legislate upon the subject, and may regulate 
it, although it could not divest the department altogether of the 
right. 

Hitherto I have considered the question upon the ground of 
the constitution, unaffected by precedent. We have in vain call- 
ed upon our opponents to meet us upon that ground ; and to point 
out the clause of the constitution wliich by express grant, or ne- 
cessary implication, subjects the will of the whole official corps 
to the pleasure of the President, to be dismissed whenever he 



AND REMOVING POWER. 301 

thinks proper, without any cause, and without any reasons pub- 
licly assigned or avowed for the dismission, and which excludes 
Congress from all authority to legislate against the tremendous 
consequences of such a vast power. No such clause has been 
shown ; nor can it be, for the best of all reasons, because it does 
not exist. Instead of bringing forward any such satisfactory evi- 
dence, gentlemen entrench themselves behind the precedent 
which was established in 1789, when the first Congress recog- 
nised the power of dismission in the President ; that is, they rely 
upon the opinion of the first Congress as to what the constitution 
meant as conclusive of what it is. 

The precedent of 1789 was established in the House of Repre- 
sentatives against the opinion of a large and able minority, and 
in the Senate by the casting vote of the Vice President, Mr. John 
Adams. It is impossible to read the debate which it occasioned 
without being impressed with the conviction that the just confi- 
dence reposed in the father of his country, then at the head of 
the government, had great, if not decisive influence in establish- 
ing it. It has never, prior to the commencement of the present 
administration, been submitted to the process of review. It has 
not been reconsidered, because, under the mild administrations 
of the predecessors of the President, it was not abused, but gen- 
erally applied to cases to which the power was jusUy applicable. 
[Mr. Clay here proceeded to recite from a memorandum, the 
number of officers removed under the different Presidents, from 
Washington down ; but the reporter not having access to the 
memorandum, is unable to note the precise number under each, 
and can only state generally that it was inconsiderable under 
all the administrations prior to the present, but under that of 
General Jackson the number of removals amounted to more than 
two thousand — of which some five or six hundred were Post- 
masters.] 

Precedents deliberataly established by wise men are entitled 
to great weight. They are the evidence of truth, but only evi- 
dence. If the same rule of interpretation has been settled, by 
concurrent decisions, at different and distant periods, and by op- 
posite dominant parties, it ought to be deemed binding, and 
not disturbed. But a solitary precedent, established, as this was, 
by an equal vote of one branch, and a powerful minority in the 
other, under the influence of a confidence never misplaced in an 
illustrious individual, and which has never been re-examined, 
cannot be conclusive. 

The first inquiry which suggests itself upon such a precedent 
as this is, brought forward by the friends of the administration, is, 
what right have they to the benefit of any precedent? The 
course of this administration has been marked by an utter and 
contemptuous disregard of all that had been previously done. — 
Disdaining to move on in the beaten road carefully constrtacted 
"by preceding administratioas, and trampling upon every thing. 



302 ON THE APPOINTING 

it has seemed resolved to trace out for itself a new line of march- 
Then, let us inquire how this administration and its partisans 
dispose of precedents drawn from the same source, the first Con- 
gress under the present constitution. If a precedent ol' that Con- 
gress be sufficient authority to sustain an executive power, other 
precedents established by it, in support of legislative powers, 
must possess a like force. But do they admit this principle of 
equality ? No such thing. They reject the precedents of the 
Congress of 1789 sustaining the power of Congress, and cling 
to that only which expands the executive authority. They go 
for prerogative, and they go against tiic rights of the people. 

It was in the first Congress that assembled in 1789, tliat the 
bank of the United States was established, the power to adopt 
a protective lariff was maintained, and the right was recognised 
to authorise internal improvements. And these several powers 
do not rest on the basis of a single precedent. They have been 
again and again affirmed, and re-affirmed by various Congresses, 
at ditlerent and distant periods, under the administration of every 
dominant party ; and, in regard to the bank, it has been sanc- 
tioned by every branch of the government, and by the people. — 
Yet the same gentlemen, who console themselves with the pre 
cedent of 1789 in behalf of the executive prerogative, reject as 
unconstitutional all these legislative powers. 

No one can carel'ully examine the debate in the House of Re- 
presentative s in 1789, without being struck with the superiority 
of the argument on the side of the minority, and the unsatisfac 
tory nature of that of the majority. How various are the sour- 
ces whence the power is derived ! Scarcely any two of the ma- 
jority agree in their deduction of it. Never have I seen, from 
the pen or tongue of Mr. Madison, one of the majority, any tiling 
80 little persuasive or convincing. He assumes that all execu- 
tive power is vested in the President. He does not qualify it ; 
he does not limit it to that executive power which the constitu- 
tion grants. He does not discriminate between executive power 
assigned by the constitution, and executive power enacted by 
law. He asks, if the Senate had not been associated with the 
President in the appointing power, whether the President, in vir- 
tue of his executive power, would not have had the right to make 
all appointments 1 I think not ; clearly not. It would have been 
a most sweeping and tar-fetched implication. In the silence of 
the constitution, it would have devolved upon Congress to pro- 
vide by law for the mode of appointing to office ; and that in vir- 
tue of the clause, to wiiich I have already adverted, giving ti 
Congress power to pass all laws necessary and proper to carrj 
on the government. He says, " the danger then merely consists 
in this : the President can displace from office a man whose raer^ 
its require that he should be continued in it. What will be the 
motives which the President can feel for such an abuse of hk 
power V What motives ! The pure heart of a Washingtor. 
could have had none ; the virtuous head of ]Madisoa could coii- 



AND REMOVING POWER. 303 

ceive none ; but let him ask General Jackson, and he will tell him 
of motives enough. He will tell him that he wishes his admin- 
istration to be a unit ; that he desires only one will to prevail in 
the executive branch of government ; that he cannot confide in 
men who opposed his election ; that he wants places to reward 
those who supported it ; that the spoils belong to the victor ; and 
tliat he is anxious to create a great power in the state, animated 
by one spirit, governed by one will, and ever ready to second 
and sustain his administration in all its acts and measures ; and 
to give its undivided force to the appointment of the successor 
whom he may prefer. And what, Mr. President, do you suppose 
are the securities against the abuse of this power, on which Mr. 
Madison relied? ''In the first place," he says, " he will be im- 
peachable by this house before the Senate, for such an act of 
mal-administration," &c. Impeacliment ! It is not a scarecrow. 
Impeach the President for dismissing a receiver or register of 
the land office, or a collector of the customs 1 But who is to im- 
peach him ? The House of Representatives. Now suppose a 
majority of that house should consist of members who approve 
the principle that the spoils belong to the victors ; and suppose 
a great number of thein are themselves desirous to obtain some 
of these spoils, and can only be gratified by displacing men from 
office whose merits require that "they should be continued, what 
chance do you think there would be to prevail upon such a house 
to impeach the President ? And if it were possible that he should, 
under such circumstances, be impeached, Avhat prospect do you 
beheve would exist of his conviction by two thirds of the Senate, 
comprising also memjjers not particularly averse to lucrative of- 
fices, and where the spoils doctrine, long practised in New-York, 
was first boldly advanced in Congress ? 

The next security was, that the President, after displacing the 
meritorious officer, could not appoint another person without the 
concurrence of the Senate. 11 Mr. Madison had shown how, by 
any action of the Senate, the meritorious officer could be re- 
placed, there would have been some security. But the Presi- 
dent has dismissed him ; his office is vacant ; the public service 
requires it to be filled, and the President nominates a succes- 
sor. In considering this nomination, the President's partizans 
have contended that the Senate is not at liberty to inquire 
how the vacancy was produced, but is limited to the single 
consideration of the fitness of the person nominated. But sup- 
pose the Senate were to reject him, that would only leave the 
office still vacant, and would not reinstate the removed officer. 
The President would have no difficulty in nominating another, 
and another, until the patience of the Senate being completely 
exhausted, they would finally confirm the appointment. What 
I have supposed is not theory, but actually matter of fact. 
How often within a few years past have the Senate disapproved 
of removals from office, which they have been subsequently 
called upon to concur in filling ? How often, wearied in reject- 



304 ON THE APPOINTING 

ing, have they approved of persons for office whom they never 
would have appointed ? How often have members approved of 
bad appointments, fearing worse if they were rejected? If the 
powers of the Senate were exercised by one man, he might op- 
pose, in the matter of appointments, a more successful resistance 
to executive abuses. He might take the ground that, in cases 
of improper removal, he would persevere in the rejection of 
every person nominated, until the meritorious officer was re- 
instated. But the Senate now consists of forty-eight members, 
nearly equally divided, one portion of which ia ready to approve 
of all nominations, and of the other, some members conceive 
that they ought not to incur the responsibility of hazarding 
the continued vacancy of a necessary office, because the Pre- 
sident may have abused his powers. There is, then, no se- 
curity, not the slightest practical security, against abuses of the 
power of removal in the concurrence of the Senate in appoint- 
ment to office. 

During the debate in 1789, Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, 
called for the clause of the constitution granting tJie power. He 
said, '-we are declaring a power in the President which may 
hereafter be greatly abused ; for we are not always to expect a 
chief magistrate in whom such entire confidence can be placed 
as the present. Perhaps gentlemen are so much dazzled with 
the splendor of the virtues of the present President, as not to be 
able to see into futurity * * * * \Yq ought 

to contemplate this power in the hands of an ambitious man who 
might apply it to dangerous pui-poses. If we give this power to 
the President, he may from caprice remove the most worthy 
men from office : his will and pleasure will be the slight tenure 
by which the office is to be held, and of consequence you 
render the officer the mere state dependent, the abject slave 
of a person who may be disposed to abuse the confidence his 
fellow citizens have placed in him." Mr. Huntington said, 
" if we have a vicious President, who inclines to abuse this 
power, which God forbid, his responsibility will stand us in 
little stead. 

Mr. Gerry, afterwards the republican Vice-President of the 
United States, contended, " that we are making these officers the 
mere creatures of the President; they dare not exercise the pri- 
vilege of their creation, if the President shall order them to for- 
bear ; because he holds their thread of life. His power Avill be 
sovereign over them, and will soon swallow up the small secu- 
rity we have in the Senate's concurrence to the appointment ; 
and we shall shortly need no other than the authority of the su- 
preme executive officer to nominate, appoint, continue or re- 
move." Was not that prophecy ; and do we not feel and .know 
that it is prophecy fulfilled?' 

There were other members who saw clearly into the future, 
and predictctl, witli admirable forecast, what would be the prac- 
tical operation of this power. But there was one eminently 



AND REMOVING POWER. 305 

giffed in this particular. It seems to have been specially re- 
served for a Jackson to foretell what a Jackson might do. 
Speaking of some future President, Mr. Jackson — I believe of 
Georgia — that was his name. What a coincidence ! " If he 
wants to establish an arbitrary authority, and finds the secretary 
of finance, (Mr. Duane) not inclined to second his endeavors, he 
has nothing more to do than to remove him, and get one ap- 
pointed, (Mr. Taney) of principles more congenial with his own. 
Then, says he, I have got the army ; let me have but the money, 
and I will establish my throne upon the ruins of your vis- 
ionary republic. Black, indeed, is the heart of that man who 
even suspects him, (Washington) to be capable of abusing 
powers. But, alas ! he cannot be with us forever ; he is but 
mortal," &c. "May not a man with a Pandora's box in his 
breast come into power, and give us sensible cause to lament 
our present confidence and want of foresight." 

In the early stages, and during a considerable portion of the 
debate, the prevailing opinion seemed to be not that the Presi- 
dent was invested by the constitution with the power, but that 
it should be conferred upon him by act of Congress. In the pro- 
gress of it the idea was suddenly started that the President pos- 
sessed the power from the constitution, and the first opinion was 
abandoned. It was finally resolved to shape the acts, on the 
passage of which the question arose, so as to recognize the ex- 
istence of the power of removal in the President. 

Such is the solitary precedent on which the contemners of all 
precedents rely for sustaining this tremendous power in one 
man ! A precedent established against the weight of argument, 
by a House of Representatives greatly divided, in a Senate equal- 
ly divided, under the influence of a reverential attachment to 
the father of his country, upon the condition that, if the power 
were applied as we know it has been in hundreds of instances 
recently applied, the President himself would be justly liable to 
impeachment and removal from office, and which, until this ad- 
ministration, has never, since its adoption, been thoroughly ex- 
amined or considered. A power, the abuses of which, as de- 
veloped under this administration, if they be not checked and 
corrected, must inevitably tend to subvert the constitution, and 
overthrow public liberty. A standing army has been in all free 
countries, a just object of jealousy and suspicion. But is not a 
corps of one iiundred thousand dependents upon government, 
actuated by one spirit, obeying one will, and aiming at one 
end, more dangerous and lormidable than a standing army? 
The standing army is separated from the mass of srciety, sta- 
tioned in barracks or military quarters, and operates by physical 
force. The otficial corps is distributed and ramified throughout 
the whole country, dwelling in every city, village, and hamlet, 
having daily intercourse with society, and operates on public 
opinion. A brave people, not yet degenerated, and devoted to 
26* 



306 ON THE APPOINTING 

liberty, may successfully defend themselves against a military 
force. But if the official corps is aided by the executive, by the 
post-office department, and by a large portion of the public 
press, its power is invincible. Tiiat the operation of the prin- 
ciple which subjects to the will of one man the tenure of all 
offices, which he may vacate at pleasure, without assigning any 
cause, must be to render them subservient to his purposes, a 
knowledge of human nature, and the short experience which we 
have had, clearly demonstrate. 

It may be asked why has this precedent of 1789 not been re- 
viewed ? Does not the long acquiescence in it prove its pro- 
priety? It has not been re-examined for several reasons. In 
the first place, all feel and own the necessity of some more sum- 
mary and less expensive and less dilatory mode of dismissing 
delinquents from subordinate offices than that of impeachment, 
which, strictly speaking, was perhaps the only one in the con- 
templation of the framers of the constitution ; certainly it is the 
only one for which it expressly provides. Then, under all the 
predecessors of the President, the power was mildly and bene- 
ficially exercised, having been always, or with very few excep- 
tions, applied to actual delinquents. Notwithstanding all that 
has been said about the number of removals which were made 
during Mr. Jellerson's administration, they were, in fact, com- 
paritively fev/. And yet he came into power as the head of a 
great party, which for years had been systematically excluded 
from the executive patronage ; a plea which cannot be urged 
in excuse for the present chief magistrate. It was reserved for 
him to act on the bold and daring principle of dismissing from 
office those who had opposed his election; of dismissing from 
office for mere difference of opinion ! 

But it will be argued that if the summary process of dismis- 
sion be expedient in some cases, why take it away altogether? 
The bill under consideration does not disturb the power. By 
the usage of the government, not I think by the constitution, 
the President practically possesses the power to dismiss those 
who are unworthy of holding these offices. By no practice or 
usage, but that which he himself has created, has he the power 
to dismiss meritorious officers only because they ditler from him 
in politics. The principal object of the bill is to require the 
President, in cases of dismission, to communicate the reasons 
which have induced him to dismiss the officer ; in other words, 
to make an arbitrary and despotic power a responsible power. 
It is not to be supposed that, if the President is bound publicly 
to state his reasons, that he wovdd act from passion or caprice, 
or witliout an3r reason. He would be ashamed to avow that he 
discharged the officer because he opposed his election. And 
yet this mild regulation of the power is opposed by the friends 
of the administration ! They think it unreasonable that the Presi- 
dent should state his reasons. If he has none, perhaps it is. 

But, Mr. President, although the bill is, I think, right in prin- 



AND REMOVING POWER. 307 

ciple, it does not seem to me to go far enough. It makes no 
provision for the insufficiency of the reasons of the President, 
by restoring or doing justice to the injured officer. It will be 
some but not sufficient restraint against abuses. I have there- 
fore prepared an amendment, which I beg leave to offer, but 
which I will not press against the decided wishes of those having 
the immediate care of the bill. By this amendment,* as to all 
offices created by law, with certain exceptions, the power at 
present exercised is made a suspensory power. The President 
may, in the vacation of the Senate, suspend the officer and ap- 
point a temporary successor. At the next session of the Senate 
he is to communicate his reasons ; and if they are deemed suffi- 
cient the suspension is confirmed, and the Senate will pass upon 
the new officer. If insufficient, the displaced officer is to be re- 
stored. This amendment is substantially the same proposition 
as one which I submitted to the consideration of the Senate at 
its last session. Under this suspensory power, the President 
will be able to discharge all defaulters or delinquents ; and it 
cannot be doubted that the Senate will concur in all such dis- 
missions. On the other hand, it will insure the integrity ancf 
independence of the officer, since he will feel that if he honestly 
ind faithfully discharges his official duties, he cannot be dis- 
)laced arbitraril)', or from mere caprice, or because he has inde- 
•endently exercised the elective franchise. 

It is contended that the President cannot see that the laws are 
lithfully executed, unless he possesses the power of removal. 
That injunction of the constitution imports a mere general super- 
intendence, except where he is specially charged with the ex- 
ecution of a law. It is not necessary that he should have the 
power of dismission. It will be a sufficient security against the 
abuses of subordinate officers that the eye of the President is 
upon them, and that he can communicate their delinquency. 
The state executives do not possess this power of dismission. 
In several, if not all, the states, the governor cannot even dismiss 
the secretary of state ; yet we have heard no complaints of the 
inefficiency of state executives, or of the administration of the 
laws of the states. The President has no power to dismiss 
the judiciary; and it might be asked, with equal plausibility, 
how he could see that the laws are executed, if the judges 
will not conform to his opinion, and he cannot dismiss them ? 

But it is not necessary to argue the general question, in con- 
sidering either the original bill or the amendment. The former 

* The amendment was in the following words : 

Beit further enacted, That, in all instances of appointment to office, by the Presi- 
dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the power of removal shall 
be exercised only in concurrence with the Senate; and when the Senate is not in 
Bcssion, the President may suspend any such otBcer, communicating his reasons for 
ihe suspension durinsthe first month of its succeeding session, and ifthe Senate con- 
cur with him the officer shall be removed, but if it do not concur with him, the officer 
shall be restored to office. 

Mr. Clay was subsequently Induced not to urge his amendment at this lime. 



308 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

does not touch the power of dismission, and the latter only 
makes it conditional instead of being absolute. 

It may be said that there are certain great officers, heads of 
departments and foreign ministers, between whom and the Pre- 
sident entire confidence should exist That is admitted. But 
surely if the President remove any of them, the people ought to 
know the cause. The amendment, however, does not reach 
those classes of officers. And supposing, as I do, that the legis- 
lative authority is competent to regulate the exercise of the 
power of dismission, tliere can be no just cause to apprehend 
that it will fail to make such modifications and exceptions as 
may be called for by the public interest; especially as what- 
ever bill may be passed must obtain the approbation of the 
chief magistrate. And if it should attempt to impose improper 
restrictions upon the executive authority, that would furnish a 
legitimate occasion for the exercise of the veto. In conclusion, I 
shall most heartily vote for the bill, with or witliout the amend- 
ment which 1 have proposed. 



THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

072 the Tesolution to expunge a part of the Jmimalfor the session 

of 1833-1S34. 

In the Senate, Monday, January 16, 1837. 

Mr. Clay rose and said that, considering that he was the 
mover of the resolution of March, 1834, and the consequent re- 
lation in which he stood to the majority of the Senate by whose 
vote it was adopted, he had felt it to be his duty to say some- 
thing on this expunging resolution; and he had always intended 
to do so when he should be persuaded that there existed a set- 
tled purpose of pressing it to a final decision. But it had been 
so taken up and put down at the last session — taken up one day, 
when a speech was prepared for delivery, and put down when it 
was pronounced, that he had really doubted whether there ex- 
isted any serious intention ofeverputtingitto the vote. At the very 
close of the last session, it will bo recollected that the resolution 
came up, and in several quarters of the Senate a disposition was 
manifested to come to a definitive decision. On that occasion he 
had offered to waive his right to address the Senate, and silently 
to vote upon the resolution; but it was again laid upon the table, 
and laid there forever, as the country supposed, and as he be- 
lieved. It is, however, now revived; and sundry changes having 
taken place in the members of this body, it would seem that the 
present design is to bring the resolution to an absolute conclu 
sion. 

I have not risen, continued Mr. Clay, to repeat, at full length. 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 309 

the argument by which the friends of the resolution of March, 
1834, sustained it. That argument is before the world, was un- 
answered at the time, and is unanswerable. And I here, in my 
place, in the presence of my country and my God. after the full- 
est consideration and deliberation of which my mind is capable, 
re-assert my solemn conviction of the truth of every proposition 
contained in that resolution. But, whilst it is not my intention to 
commit such an infliction upon the Senate as that would be of 
retracing the whole ground of argument formerly occupied, I de- 
sire to lay before it, at this time, a brief and true state of the 
the case. Before the fatal step is taken of giving to the expung- 
ing resolution the sanction of the American Senate, I wish by 
presenting a faithful outline of the real questions involved in the 
resolution of 1834, to make a last, even if it is to be an ineffectual 
appeal to the sober judgments of senators. I begin by re-assert- 
ing the truth of that resolution. 

Our British ancestors understood perfectly well the immense 
importance of the money power in a representative government. 
It is the great lever by which the crown is touched, and made to 
conlbrm its administration to the interests of the kingdom, and the 
will of the people. Deprive parliament of the power of freely 
granting or withholding supplies, and surrender to the king the 
purse of the nation, he instantly becomes an absolute monarch. 
Whatever may be the form of government, elective or hereditary, 
democratic or despotic, that person who commands the force of 
the nation, and at the same time has uncontrolled possession of 
the purse of the nation, has absolute power, whatever may be 
the official name by which he is called. 

Our immediate ancestors, profiting by the lessons on civil 
liberty which had been taught in the country from which we 
sprung, endeavored to encircle around the public purse, in the 
hands of Congress, every possible security against the intru- 
sion of the executive. With this view, Congress alone is in- 
vested, by the constitution, with the power to lay and collect the 
taxes. When collected, not a cent is to be drawn from the pub- 
lic treasury, but in virtue of an act of Congress. And, among 
the first acts of this government, was the passage of a law es- 
tablishing the treasury department, for the sale keeping and the 
legal and regular disbursement of the money so collected. By 
that act a Secretary of the Treasury is placed at the head of 
the department; and, varying in the respect from all the other 
departments, he is to report, not to the President, but directly to 
Congress, and is liable to be called to give information in person 
before Congress. It is impossible to examine dispassionately 
that act, without coming to the conclusion that he is emphati- 
cally the agent of Congress in performing the duties assigned 
by the constitution to Congress. The act further provides that 
a Treasurer shall be appointed to receive and keep the public 
money, and none can be drawn from his custody but under the 
authority of a law, and in virtue of a warrant drawn by the 



310 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the Comptroller, 
and recorded by the Register. Only when such a warrant is 
presented can the Treasurer lawfully pay one dollar from the 
public purse. Why was the concurrence of these four officers 
required in disbursements of the public money? Was it not for 
greater security? Was it not intended that each, exercising a 
separate and independent will, should be a check upon every 
other? Was it not the purpose of the law to consider each of 
these four officers, acting in his proper sphere, not as a mere 
automaton, but as an intellectual, intelligent and responsible 
person, bound to observe the law, and to stop the warrant, or 
stop the money, if the authority of the law were wanting ? 

Thus stood the treasury from 1789 to 1816. During that long 
time no President had ever attempted to interfere with the cus- 
tody of the public purse. It remained where the law placed it, 
undisturbed, and every Chief Magistrate, including the father 
of his country, respected the law. 

In 1816 an act passed to establish the late bank of the United 
States for the term of twenty years; and, by the 16th section 
of the act, it is enacted "that the deposites of the money of the 
United States in places in which the said bank and the branch- 
es thereof may be established, shall be made in said bank or 
branches thereof, unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
at any time otherwise order and direct; in which case, the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury shall immediately lay before Congress, 
if in session, and, if not, immediately after the commencement 
of the next session, the reasons of such order or direction." 

Thus it is perfectly manifest, from the express words of the 
law, that the power to make any order or direction for the remo- 
val of the public deposites is confided to the Secretary alone, to 
the absolute exclusion of the President, and all the world besides. 
And the law, proceeding upon the established principle that the 
Secretary of the Treasury, in all that concerns the public purse, 
acta as the direct agent of Congress, requires, in the event of 
his ordering or directing a removal of the deposites, that he 
shall immediately lay his reasons therefor before whom ? The 
President? No; before Congress. 

So stood the public treasury and the public deposites from the 
year 1816 to September, 1833. In all that period of seventeen 
years, running through or into four several administrations of 
the government, the law had its uninterrupted operation, no 
Chief Magistrate having assumed upon himself the power of 
diverting the public purse from its lawful custody, or of substi- 
tuting his will to that of the officer to whose care it was exclu- 
sively entrusted. 

In the session of Congress of 1832-3 an inquiry had been 
instituted by the House of Representatives into the condition 
of the bank of the United States. It resulted in a conviction 
of its entire safety, and a declaration by the House, made only 
a short time before the adjournment of Congress on the fourth 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 311 

of March, 1S33, that the public deposites were perfectly secure. 
This declaration was probably made in consequence of suspi- 
cions then afloat of a design on the part of the executive to 
remove the deposites. These suspicions were denied by the 
press friendly to the administration. Nevertheless, the members 
had scarcely reached their respective homes, before measures 
were commenced by the executive to effect a removal of the 
deposites from that very place of safety which it was among the 
last acts of the House to declare existed in the bank of the 
United States. 

In prosecution of this design, Mr. McLain, the Secretary of 
the Treasury, who was decidedly opposed to such a measure, 
was promoted to the Department of State, and Mr. Duane was 
appointed to succeed him. But Mr. Duane was equally con- 
vinced with his predecessor that he was forbidden by every 
consideration of duty to execute the power with which the law 
had entrusted tlie Secretary of the Treasury, and refused to 
remove the deposites; whereupon he was dismissed from office, 
a new Secretary of the Treasury was appointed, and, in Sep- 
tember, 1833, by the command of the President, the measure 
was finally accomplished. That it was the President's act was 
never denied, but proclaimed, boasted, defended. It fell upon 
the country like a thunderbolt, agitating the Union from one 
extremity to the other. The stoutest adherents of the adminis- 
tration were alarmed ; and all thinking men, not blinded by party 
prejudice, beheld in the act a bold and dangerous exercise of 
power; and no human sagacity can now foresee the tremendous 
consequences which will ensue. The measure was adopted 
not long before the approaching session of Congress ; and, as 
the concurrence of both branches might be necessary to compel 
a restoration of the deposites, the object was to take the chance 
of a possible division between them, and thereby defeat the 
restoration. 

And where did the President find the power for this inost 
extraordinary act? It has been seen that the constitution, 
jealous of all executive interference with the treasury of the 
nation, has confined it to the exclusive care of Congress, by 
every precautionary guard, from the first imposition of the 
taxes to the final disbursement of the public money. 

It has been seen that the language of the sixteenth section 
of the law of 1816 is express and free from all ambiguity; and 
that the Secretary of the Treasury is the sole and exclusive de- 
pository of the authorit}'- which it confers. 

Those who maintain the power of the President have to sup- 
port it against the positive language of the constitution, against 
the explicit words of the statute, and against the genius and 
theory of all our institutions. 

And how do they surmount these insuperable obstacles? By 
a series of far-fetched implications, which, if every one of them 
were as true as they are believed to be incorrect or perverted, 



S12 ON TH^E EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

would stop far short of maintaining the powet which was exer- 
cised. 

The first of these implied powers is, that of dismissal, which 
is claimed for the President. Of all the questioned powers ever 
exercised by this government, this is the most questionable. 
From tlie first Congress down to the present administration, it 
had never been examined. It was carried, then, in the Senate, 
by the casting vote of the Vice President. And those who, at 
that day, argued in behalf of the power, contended for it upon 
conditions which have been utterly disregarded by the present 
Chief Magistrate. The power of dismissal is no where in the 
constitution granted, in express terms, to the President. It ia 
not a necessary incident to any granted power ; and the friends 
of the power have never been able to agree among themselves 
as to the precise part of the constitution from which it springs. 

But, if the power of dismissal was as incontestable as it is 
justly controvertible, we utterly deny the consequences deduced 
from it. The argument is, that the President has, by implica- 
tion, the power of dismissal. From this first implication another 
is drawn, and that is, that the President has the power to con- 
trol the officer, whom he may dismiss, in the discharge of his 
duties, in all cases whatever ; and that this power of control is 
60 comprehensive as to include even the case of a specific duty 
expressly assigned by law to the designated officer. 

Now, we deny these results from the dismissing power. That 
power, if it exists, can draw after it only a right of general 
superintendence. It cannot authorize the President to substitute 
his will to the will of the officer charged with the performance 
of official duties. Above all, it cannot justify such a substitution 
in a case where the law, as in the present instance, assigns to a 
designated officer exclusively the performance of a particular 
duty, and commands him to report, not to the President, but to 
Congress, in a case regarding the public purse of the nation, 
committed to the exclusive control of Congress. 

Such a consequence as that which I am contesting would 
concentrate in the hands of one man the entire executive power 
of the nation, uncontrolled and unchecked. 

It would be utterly destructive of all official responsibility. — 
Instead of each officer being responsible, in his own separate 
sphere, for his official acts, he would shelter himself behind the 
orders of the President. And what tribunal, in heaven above 
or on earth below, could render judgment against any officer for 
an act, however atrocious, performed by the express command 
of the President, whicli^ according to the argument, he was abso- 
lutely bound to obey? 

Whilst all official responsibility would be utterly annihilated 
in subordinated officers, there would be no practical or available 
responsibility in the President himself. 

But the case has been supposed, of a necessity for the remo- 
val of the deposites, and a refusal of the Secretary of the 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 313 

Treasury to remove them; and it is triumphantly asked if, in 
such a case, the President may not remove him, and command 
the deed to be done. That is an extreme case, which may be 
met by another. Suppose the President, vi^ithout any necessity, 
orders the removal from a place of safety to a place of hazard. 
If there be danger that a Secretary may neglect his duty, there 
is equal danger that a President may abuse his authority. — 
Infallibility is not a human attribute. And there is more secu- 
rity for the public in holding the Secretary of the Treasury to 
the strict performance of an official duty specially assigned to 
him, under all his official responsibility, than to allow the Presi- 
dent to wrest the work from his hands, annihilate his responsi- 
bility, and stand himself practically irresponsible. It is far bet- 
ter that millions should be lost by the neglect of a Secretary 
of the Treasury, than to establish the monstrous principle that 
all the checks and balances of the executive government shall 
be broken down, the whole power absorbed by one man, and 
his will become the supreme rule. The argument which I am 
combatting places the whole treasury of the nation at the mercy 
of the executive. It is in vain to talk of appropriations by law, 
and the formalities of warrants upon the treasury. Assuming 
the argument to be correct, what is to prevent the execution of 
an order from the President to the Secretary of the Treasury to 
issue a warrant, without the sanction of a previous legal appro- 
priation, to the Comptroller to countersign it, to the Register to 
register it, and to the Treasurer to pay it? What becomes of 
tliat quadruple security which the precaution of the law pro- 
vided? Instead of four substantive and independent wills, acting 
under legal obligations, all are merged in the executive voters. 

But there was, in point of fact, no cause, none whatever, lor 
the measure. Every fiscal consideration, (and no other had the 
Secretary or the President a right to entertain,) required the 
deposites to be left undisturbed in the place of perfect safety 
where by law they were. We told you so at the time. We 
asserted that the charges of insecurity and insolvency of tlie 
bank were without the slightest foundation. And time, that great 
arbiter of human controversies, has confirmed all that we said. 
The bank, from documents submitted to Congress by the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury at the present session, appears to be able 
not only to return every dollar of the stock held in its capital by 
the public, but an addition of eleven per cent, beyond it. 

Those who defend the executive act have to maintain not only 
that the President may assume upon himself the discharge of a 
duty specially assigned to the Secretary of the Treasury, but 
that he may remove that officer, arbitrarily, aud without any 
cause, because he refused to remove the public deposites without 
cause. 

My mind conducts me to a totally different conclusion. I 
think, I solemnly believe, that the President " assumed upon him- 
27 



314 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

self authority and power not conferred by the constitution and 
laws, but in derogation of both," in tlie language of the resolu- 
tion. I believed then in the truth of the resolution ; and I now 
in my place, and under all my responsibility, re-avow my unsha- 
ken conviction of it. 

But it has been contended on this occasion, as it was in the 
debate which preceded the adoption of the resolution of 1834, 
that the Senate has no right to express the truth on any question 
which, by possibihty, may become a subject of impeachment It 
is manifest that if it may, tliere is no more usual or appropriate 
form in which it may be done than that of resolutions, joint or 
separate, orders, or bills. In no other mode can the collective 
sense of the body be expressed. But Senators maintain that no 
matter what may be the executive encroachment upon the joint 
powers of the two houses, or the separate authority of the Sen- 
ate, it is bound to stand mute, and not breathe one word of com- 
plaint or remonstrance. According to the argument, the greater 
the violation of the constitution or the law, the greater the incom- 
petency of the Senate to express any opinion upon it ! Further, 
that this incompetencv is not confined to the acts ol" the President 
only, but extends to those of every ofiiccr who is liable to im- 
peachment under the constitution. Is this possible ? Can it be 
true? Contrary to all the laws of nature, is the Senate the only 
being which has no power of self-preservation — no right to com- 
plain or to remonstrate against attaclis upon its very existence ? 

The argument is, that the Senate, being the constitutional tri- 
bunal to try all impeachments, is thereby precluded from the ex- 
ercise of the right to express any opinion upon any official mal- 
feasance, except when acting in its judicial character. 

If this disqualification exist, it applies to all impeachable offi- 
cers, and ought to have protected the late Postmaster General 
against the resolution, unanimously adopted by the Senate, de- 
claring that he had borrowed money contrary to law. And it 
would disable the Senate from considering that treasury order, 
which has formed such a prominent subject of its deliberations 
during the present session. 

And how do Senators maintain this obligation of the Senate 
to remain silent and behold itself stript, one by one. of all its con- 
stitutional powers, without resistance, and without murmur? Is 
it imposed by the language of the constitution? Has any part 
of that instrument been pointed to which expressly enjoins it? 
No, no, not a syllable. ]3ut it is attempted to be deduced by 
another far-fetched implication. Because the Senate is the body 
which is to try impeachments, therefore (7 is inferred the Senate 
can express no opinion on any matter which may form the sub- 
ject of impeachment. The constitution does not say so. That 
is undeniable ; but Senators think so. 

The Senate acts in three characters, legislative, executive and 
judicial; and their importance is in the order enumerated. Bv 
lar tlie most important of the three is its legislative. In that, al- 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 315 

most every day that it has been in session from 1789 to the pre- 
sent time, some legislative business has been transacted ; whilst, 
in its judicial character, it has not sat more than tliree or four 
times in that whole period. 

Why should the judicial function limit and restrain the legis- 
lative function of the Senate, more than the legislative should 
the judicial? If the degree of importance of the two should 
decide which ought to impose the restraint, in cases of conflict 
between them, none can doubt which it should be. 

But if the argument is sound, how is it possible for the Senate 
to perform its legislative duties? An act in violation of the con- 
stitution or laws is committed by the President or a subordinate 
executive officer, and it becomes necessary to correct it by the 
passage of a law. The very act of the President in question 
was under a law to which the Senate had given its concurrence. 
According to the argument, the correcting law cannot originate 
in the Senate, because it would have to pass in judgment upon 
that act. Nay, more, it cannot originate in the house and be 
sent to the Senate, for the same reason of incompetency in the 
Senate to pass upon it. Suppose the bill contained a preamble 
reciting the unconstitutional or illegal act, to which the legisla- 
tive corrective is applied, according to the argument, the Senate 
must not think of passing it. Pushed to its legitimate conse- 
quence, the argument requires the House of Representatives it- 
self cautiously to abstain from the expressionof any opinion upon 
an executive act, except when it is acting as the grand inquest 
of the nation, and considering articles of nnpeachment. 

Assuming that the argument is well founded, the Senate is 
equally restrained from expressing any opinion which would im- 
ply the innocence or the guilt of an impeachable officer, unless 
it be maintained that it is lawful to express praise and approba- 
tion, but not censure or difference of opinion. Instances have 
occurred in our past history, (the case of the British minister, 
Jackson, was a memorable one,) and many others may arise in 
our future progress, when, in reference to foreign powers, it may 
be important for Congress to approve what has been done by the 
executive, to present a firm and united front, and to pledge the 
country to stand by and support him. May it not do that? If 
the Senate dare not entertain and express any opinion upon an 
executive measure, how do those who support this expunging 
resolution justify the acquittal of the President which it pro- 
claims 1 

No Senator believed in 1834 that, whether the President mer- 
ited impeachment or not, he ever would be impeached. In point 
of fact he has not been, and we have every reason to suppose 
that he never will be impeached. Was the majority of the Sen- 
ate, in a case where it believed the constitution and laws to have 
been violated, and the liberties of the people to be endangered, 
to remain silent, and to refrain from proclaiming the truth, be- 
cause, against all human probability, the President might be iror 



316 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

S cached b)'' a majority of his pohtical friends in the House of 
Representatives? 

If an impeachment had been actually voted by the House of 
Representatives, there is nothing in the constitution which en- 
joins silence on tlie part of the Senate. In such a case, it would 
have been a matter of propriety for the consideration of each 
Senator to avoid the expression of any opinion on a matter upon 
which, as a sworn judge, he would be called to act. 

Hitherto I have considered the question on the supposition that 
the resolution of Marcli, 1834, impHed such guilt in the President 
that he would have been liable to conviction on a trial by im- 
peachment before the Senate of the United States. But the re- 
solution, in fact, imported no such guilt. It simply affirmed that 
he had " assumed upon himself authority and power not confer- 
red by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both." It 
imputed no criminal motives. It did not profess to penetrate into 
the heart of the President. According to the phraseology of the 
resolution, the exceptionable act might have been performed 
with the purest and most patriotic intention. The resolution nei- 
ther affirmed his innocence, nor pronounced his guilt. It amounts 
then, say his friends on this floor, to nothing. Not so. If the 
constitution be trampled upon, and the laws be violated, the in- 
jury may be equally great, whether it has been done with good 
or bad intentions. There may be a difference to the officer, none 
to the country. The country, as all experience demonstrates, 
has most reason to apprehend those encroachments which take 
place on plausible pretexts, and with good intentions. 

I put it, Mr. President, to the calm and deliberate considera- 
tion of the majority of the Senate, are you ready to pronounce, 
in the face of this enlightened community, for all time to come, 
and whoever may happen to be the President, that the Senate 
dare not, in language the most inoffensive and respectful, remon- 
strate against any executive usurpation, whatever may be its de- 
gree or danger? 

For one, I will not, I cannot. I believe the resolution of March, 
1834, to have been true ; and that it was competent to the Sen- 
ate to proclaim the truth. And I solemnly believe that the Sen- 
ate would have been culpably neglectful of its duty to itself, to 
the constitution, and to the country, if it had not announced the 
truth. 

But let me suppose that in all this I am mistaken ; that the act 
of the President, to which exception was made, was in conform- 
ity with the spirit of our free institutions and the language of 
our constitution and laws ; and that, whether it was of not, the 
Senate of 1834 had no authority to pass judgment upon it; what 
right has the Senate of 1837, a component part of another Con- 
gress, to pronounce judgment upon its predecessor ? How can 
you who venture to impute to those who have gone before you 
an unconstitutional proceeding, escape a similar imputation ? 
What part of the constitution communicates to you any authority 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTIOxN. 317 

. to arraign and try your predecessors ? In what article is con- 
tained your power to expunge wiiat they have done? And may 
not the precedent lead to a perpetual code of defacement and 
restoration of the transactions of the Senate as consigned to the 
public records'? 

Are you not only destitute of all authority, but positively for- 
bidden to do what the expunging resolution proposes? The 
injunction of the constitution to keep a journul of our proceedings 
is clear, express and emphatic. It is free from ambiguity : no 
sophistry can pervert tiie explicit language of the instrument ; 
no artful device can elude the force of the obligation which it 
imposes. If it were possible to make more manifest the duty which 
it requires to be performed, that was done by the able and elo- 
quent speeches, at the last session, of the senators from Virginia 
and Louisiana, (Messrs. Leigh and Porter,) and at this of my 
colleague. I shall not repeat the argument. But I would ask, 
if there were no constitutional requirement to keep a journal, 
what constitutional riglit has the Senate of this Congress to pass 
in judgment upon the Senate of another Congress, and to ex- 
punge from its journal a deliberate act there recorded ? Can 
an unconstitutional act of that Senate, supposing it to be so, 
justify you in performing another unconstitutional act? 

But, in lieu of any argument upon the point Irom me, I beg 
leave to cite for the consideration of the Senate two precedents: 
one drawn from the reign of the most despotic monarch in mod- 
ern Europe, under the most despotic minister that ever bore 
sway over any people : and the other from the purest fountain 
of democracy in this country. I quote from the interesting life 
ot the Cardinal Richelieu, written by that most admirable and 
popular author. Mr. James. The Duke of Orleans, the brother 
of Louis XIII, had been goaded into rebellion by the wary Rich- 
elieu. The king issued a decree declaring all the supporters of 
the duke guilty of higli treason, and a copy of it was despatched 
to the Parliament at Paris, Avith an order to register it at once. 
The Parliament demurred, and proceeded to what was called 
an arret de partage. "Richelieu, however, could bear no con- 
tradiction in the course which he had laid down for himself;" 
I how strong a resemblance does that feature of his character 
bear to one of an illustrious individual whom I will not further 
describe !] " and hurrying back to Paris with the king, he sent, 
in the monarch's name, a command for the members of the par- 
liament to present themselves at the Louvre in a body and on 
foot. He was obeyed immediately ; and the king receiving 
them with great haughtiness, the keeper of the seals made them 
a speech, in which he declared that they had no authority to de- 
liberate upon atlairs of slate ; that the business of private indi- 
viduals they might discuss, but that the will of the monarch in 
other matters they were alone called upon to register. IVie king 
then tore trith his ownhands the page of the register on which the 
27* 



318 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

arret de partage had been inscribed, and punished with suspen- 
sion from, their functions several of the members of the varioais 
courts composing the Parliament of Paris. ''^ ' How repeated acts 
of the exercise of arbitrary power are lilcely to subdue the spirit 
of liberty, and to render callous the public sensibility and the 
fate which awaits us, if we had not been recently unhappily 
taught in this country, we may learn from the same author. 
" The finances of the state were exhausted, new impositions 
were devised, and a number of new offices created and sold. 
Against the last named abuse the Parliament ventured to re- 
monstrate ; but the government of the cardinal had for its first 
principle despotism, and the refractory members were punished, 
some with exile, some with suspension of their functions. AH 
were forced to comply with his will, and tlie Parliament, unable 
to resist, yielded, step by step, to his exactions." 

The other precedent is supplied by the archives of the democ- 
racy of Pennsylvania, in 1S16, when it was genuine and unmix- 
ed with any other ingredient. 

The provisions of the constitution of the United States and of 
Pennsylvania, in regard to the obligation to keep a journal, are 
substantially the same. That of the United States requires that 
" each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, except such parts as may in their 
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the mem- 
bers of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one- 
fifth of the members present, be entered on the journal." And 
that of Pennsylvania is, " each house shall keep a journal of its 
proceedings, and publish them weekly, except such parts as re- 
quire secrecy , and the yeas and nays of the members, on any 
question shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on 
the journals." Whatever inviolability, therefore, is attached to 
a journal, kept in conformity with the one constitution, must be 
equally stamjied on that kept under the other. On tlie 10th of 
February, 1S16, in the House of Representatives of Pennsylva- 
nia, "the speaker informed the House that a constitutional ques- 
tion being involved in a decision by him yesterday, on a motion 
to expunge certain proceedings from the journal, he was desi- 
rous of having tlie opinion of the house on that decision, viz: 
that a majority can expunge from the journal any proceedings 
in which the yeas and, nays have not been called.'''' Whereupon 
Mr. Holgate and Mr. Smith appealed from said decision ; and 
on the question, is the sj^eaker right in his decision ? The 
members present voted as follows: yeas three, nays seventy- 
eight. Among the latter are to be found the two senators now 
representing in this body the state of Pennsylvania. On the 
same day a motion was made by one of them, (Mr. Buchanan) 
and Mr. Kelly, and read as follows : " Resolved, That in the 
opinion of this house no part of the journals of the house can be 
expunged even by unanimous consent." 

The Senate observes that the question arose in a case where 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 319 

there were but four members out of eighty-two that thought it 
was competent to the House to expunge. Had the yeas and 
nays been called and recorded, as they were on the resolution 
of March, 1834, there would not have been a solitary vote in the 
House of Representatives of Pennsylvania in support of the 
power of expunging. — And if you can expunge the resolution, 
why may you not expunge also the recorded yeas and nays at- 
tached to it ? 

But if the matter of expunction be contrary to the truth of the 
case, reproachful for its base subserviency, derogatory from the 
just and necessary powers of the Senate, and repugnant to the 
constitutian of the United States, the manner in which it is pro- 
posed to accomphsh this dark deed is also highly exceptionable. 
The expunging resolution, which is to blot out or enshroud the 
four or five lines in which the resolution of 1834 stands recorded, 
or rather the recitals by which it is preceded, are spun out into 
a thread of enormous length. It runs, whereas, and whereas, 
and whereas, and whereas, &c., into a formidable array of nine 
several whereases. One who should have the courage to begin 
to read them, unaware of what was to be their termination, 
would thinii that at the end of such a tremendous display he 
must find the very devil. It is like a kite or a comet, except that 
he order of nature is inverted, and the tail, instead of being be- 
lind, is before the body to which it is appended. 

I shall not trespass on the Senate by inquiring into the truth 
)f all the assertions of fact and of principle contained in these re- 
jitals. It would not be difficult to expose them all, and to show 
that not one of them has more than a colorable foundation. It 
is asserted by one of them that the President was put upon his 
trial, and condemned, unheard, by the Senate, in 1834. Was 
that true ? Was it a trial ? Can the majority now assert, upon 
their oaths, and in their consciences, that there was any trial or 
condemnation? During the warmth of debate, senators might en- 
deavor to persuade themselves and the public that the proceed- 
ing of 1834 was, in its effects and conseqiiences, a trial, and 
would be a condemnation of the President; but now, after the 
lapse of near three years, when the excitement arising from an 
animated discussion has passed away, it is marvellous that any 
one should be prepared to assert that an expression of the opinion 
of the Senate upon the character of an executive act was an ar- 
raignment, trial and conviction of the President of the United 
States ! 

Another fact, asserted in one of those recitals, is, that the reso- 
lution of J 834, in either of the forms in which it was originally 
presented, or subsequently modified prior to the final shape 
which it assumed when adopted, would have been rejected by a 
majority of the Senate. What evidence is there in support of 
this assertion ? None. It is, I verily believe directly contrary 
to the fact. In either of the modifications of the resolution, I 
have not a doubt that it would have passed ! They were all 



320 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

made in that spirit of accommodation by which the mover of the 
resolution has ever regulated his conduct as a member of a de- 
liberative body. In not one single instance did he understand 
from any senator at whose request he made tlie modification, 
that, without it, he would vote against the resolution. How, 
then, can even the senators, who were of the minority of 1834, 
undertake to make the assertion in question? How can the new 
senators, who have come here since, pledge themselves to the 
fact asserted, in the recital of which tliey could not have had any 
conusance? But all the members of the majority — the veterans 
and the raw recruits — the six years men and six weeks men — 
are required to concur in this most unfounded assertion, as I be- 
lieve it to be. I submit it to one of the latter (looking toward 
Mr. Dana, from Maine, here by a temporary appointment from 
the executive), whether, instead of innundating the Senate with 
a torrent of fulsome and revolting adulation poured on the Pre- 
sident, it would not be wiser and more patriotic to illustrate the 
brief period of his senatorial existence by some great measure 
fraught with general benefit to the whole Union? Or, if he will 
not or cannot elevate himself to a view of the interest of the 
entire country, whether lie had not better dedicate his time to 
an investigation into the causes of an alien jurisdiction being 
still exercised over a large part of the territory of the state 
which he represents ? And why the American carrying trade 
to the British colonies, in which his state was so deeply interest- 
ed, has been lost by a most improvident and bungling arrange- 
ment? 

Mr. President, what patriotic purpose is to be accomplished 
by this expunging resolution ! Wliat new honor or fresh laurels 
will it win for our common country ? Is the power of the Sen- 
ate so vast that it ought to be circumscribed, and that of the 
President so restricted that it ought to be extended ? What 
power has the Senate? None separately. It can only act 
jointly with the otiier house, or jointly with the executive. And 
although the theory of the constitution supposes, when consulted 
by him, it may freely give an affirmative or negative response, 
according to the practice, as it now exists, it has lost tiie faculty 
of pronouncing the negative monosyllable. When ihe Senate 
expresses its deliberate judgment, in the form of resolution, that 
resolution has no compulsory force, but appeals only to the dis- 
passionate intelligence, the calm reason, and the sober judgment 
of the community. The Senate has no army, no navy, no pat- 
ronage, no lucrative offices, nor glittering honors to bestow. 
Around us there is no swarm of greedy expectants, renderings 
us homage, anticipating our wishes, and ready to execute our 
commands. 

How is it with the President? Is he powerless? He is felt 
from one extremity to the other of this vast republic. By means 
of principles which he has introduced, and innovations which he 
has made in our institutions, alas ! but too much countenanced 



ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 321 

the yeas and nays had not heen called. Even in such a case 
by Congress and a confiding people, he exercises uncontrolled 
the power of the state. In one hand he holds the purse, and in 
the other brandishes the sword of the country. Myriads of de- 
pendents and partizans, scattered over the land, are ever ready 
to sing hosannas to him, and to laud to the skies whatever he 
does. He has swept over the government, during the last eight 
years, like a tropical tornado. Every department exhibits traces 
of the ravages of the storm. Take, as one example, the Bank 
of the United States. No institution could have been more pop- 
ular with the people, with Congress, and with state legislatures. 
None ever better fulfilled the great purposes of its establishment 
But it unfortunately incurred the displeasure of the President ; 
he spoke, and the bank lies prostrate. And those who were 
loudest in its praise are now loudest in its condemnation. What 
object of his ambition is unsatisfied ? When disabled from age 
any longer to hold the sceptre of power, he designates his 
sucoessor, and transmits it to his favorite ! What more does he 
want? Must we blot, deface and mutilate the records of the 
country to punish the presumptuousness of expressing an opinion 
contrary to his own. 

What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by this expung- 
ing resolution ? Can you make that not to be which has 
been? Can you eradicate from memory and from history 
the fact that in March, 1834, a majority of the Senate of the 
United States passed the resolution which excites your enmity? 
Is it your vain and wicked object to arrogate to yourselves that 
power of annihilating the past which has been denied to Omni- 
potence itself? Do you intend to thrust your hands into our 
hearts and to pluck out the deeply rooted convictions which are 
there ? Or is it your design merely to stigmatize us ? You 
cannot stigmatize US. 

" Ne'er yet did base dishonor blur our name." 

Standing securely upon our conscious rectitude, and bearing 
aloft the shield of the constitution of our country, your puny 
efforts are impotent, and we defy all your power. Put the ma- 
jority of 1834 in one scale, and that by which this expunging 
resolution is to be carried in the other, and let truth and justice, 
in heaven above, and on earth below, and liberty and patriotism, 
decide the preponderance. 

What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by this expung- 
ing resolution? Is it to appease the wrath and to heal the 
wounded pride of the chief magistrate? If he be really the here 
that his friends represent him he must despise all mean conde- 
scension, all grovelling sycophancy, all self-degradation, and 
self-abasement. He would reject, with scorn and contempt, as 
unworthy of his fame, your black scratches, and your baby lines 
in the fair records of his country. Black lines ! Black lines I 



322 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

Sir, I hope the secretary of tlie Senate will preserve the pen 
with whicli he may inscribe them, and present it to that senator 
of the majority whom lie may select, as a proud trophy, to be 
transmitted to his descendants. And hereafter, when we shall 
lose the forms of our free institutions, all that now remain to us, 
some future American monarch, in gratitude to those by whose 
means he has been enabled, upon the ruins of civil liberty, to 
erect a throno, and to commemorate especially this expunging 
resolution, may institue a new order of knighthood, and confer 
on it the appropriate name of the knight of the black lines. 

But why should I detain the Senate or needlessly waste my 
breath in fruidess exertions. The decree has gone forth. It is 
one of urgency, too. The deed is to be done — that foul deed 
like the blood-stained hands of the guilty Macbeth, all ocean'a 
waters will never wash out. Proceed, then, to the noble work 
which lies before you, and like other skilful executioners, do it 
quickly. And when you have perpetrated it, go home to the 
people, and tell them what glorious honors you have achieved 
for our common country. Tell them that you have extinguished 
one of the brightest and purest lights that ever burnt at the altar 
of civil liberty. Tell them that you have silenced one of the 
noblest batteries that ever thundered in defence of the constitu- 
tion, and bravely spiked the cannon. Tell them that, hencefor- 
ward, no matter what daring or outrageous act any President 
may perform, you have forever hermetically sealed the mouth 
of the Senate. Tell them that he may fearlessly assume what 
power he pleases, snatcli from its lawful custody the public 
purse, command a military detachment to enter the halls of the 
capitol, overawe Congress, trample down the constitution, and 
raze every bulwark of freedom ; but that the Senate must stand 
mute, in silent submission, and not dare to raise its opposing 
voice. That it must Avait until a House of Representatives, 
humbled and subdued like itself, and a majority of it composed 
of the partizans of the President, shall prefer articles of impeach- 
ment. Tell them, finally, that you have restored the glorious 
doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, and, if the 
people do not pour out tlieir indignation and imprecations, I 
have yet to learii the character of American freemen. 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 323 



ON THE SUB -TREASURY. 

Delivered in the Senate of the United States, February IdtJi, 

1838. 

Mr. Clay, of Kentuclcy, rose and addressed the Senate as fol- 
lows: I have seen some public service, passed through many 
troubled times, and often addressed public assemblies, in this 
capitol and elsewhere; but never before have I risen in a delibe- 
rative body, under more oppressed feelings, or with a deeper 
sense of awful rcsponsibilily. Never before have I risen to 
express rny opinions upon any public measure fraught with 
such tremendous consequences to the welfare and prosperity of 
the country, and so perilous to the liberties of the people, as I 
solemnly believe the bill under consideration will be. If you 
knew, sir, what sleepless hours reflection upon it has cost me ; 
if you knew with what fervor and sincerity I have implored 
Divine assistance to strengthen and sustain me in my opposition 
to it, I should have credit with you. at least, for the sincerity of 
ray convictions, if I shall be so unfortunate as not to have your 
concurrence as to the dangerous character of the measure. And 
I have thanked my God that he has prolonged my life until the 
present time, to enable me to exert myself in the service of my 
country, against a project far transcending, in pernicious ten- 
dency, any that I have ever had occasion to consider. I thank 
him for the health I am permitted to enjoy ; I thank him for the 
•soft and sweet repose which I experienced last night ; I thank 
him for the bright and glorious sun which shines upon us this 
day. 

It is not my purpose, at this time, Mr. President, to go at 
large into a consideration of the causes which have led to the 
present most disastrous state of public aftairs. That duty was 
performed by others, and myself, at the extra session of Con- 
gress. It was then clearly shown that it sprung from tlie ill- 
advised and unfortunate measures of executive administration. 
I now v;iii content myself with saying that, on the 4th day of 
March, 1829. Andrew Jackson, not by the blessing of God, was 
made President of the United States; that the country then 
was eminendy prosperous; that its currency was as sound and 
sale as any that a ])eople were ever blessed with; that, through- 
out the wide extent of this whole Union, it possessed a uniform 
value ; and that exchanges were conducted with such regularity 
and perfection, that funds could be transmitted from one ex- 
tremity of the Union to the other, with the least possible risk or 
loss. In this encouraging condition of the business of the coun- 
try, it remained for several years, until after the war, wantonly 
waged against the late bank of the United States, was com- 
pletely successful, by the overthrow of that invaluable institu- 
tion. What our preeent situation is, it is as needless to describe 



324 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

as it is painful to contemplate. First felt in our great commer- 
cial marts, distress and embarrassment have penetrated into the 
interior, and now pervade almost the entire Union. It has been 
justly remarked, by one of the soundest and most practical 
writers that I have had occasion to consult, that " all convulsions 
in the circulation and commerce of every country must originate 
in the operation of the government, or in the mistaken views 
and erroneous measures of those possessing the power of influ- 
encing credit and circulation ; for they are not otherwise sus- 
ceptible of convulsion, and, if left to themselves, they will find 
their own level, and flow nearly in one uniform stream." 

Yes, Mr. President, we all have but too melancholly a con- 
sciousness of the unhappy condition of our country. We all too 
well know that our noble and gallant ship lies helpless and im- 
movable upon breakers, dismasted, the surge beating over her 
venerable sides, and the crew threatened with instantaneous 
destruction. How came she there? Who was the pilot at the 
helm when she was stranded 1 The party in power! The pilot 
was aided by all the science and skill, by all the charts and 
instruments of sucli distinguished navigators as Washington, 
the Adamses, Jefterson, Madison and Monroe; and yet he did 
not, or could not, save the public vessel. She was placed in her 
present miserable condition by his bungling navigation, or by 
his want of skill and judgment. It is impossible for him to 
escape from one or the other horn of that dilemma. I leave 
him at liberty to choose between them. 

I shall endeavor, Mr. President, in the course of the address 
I am about making, to establish certain propositions, wliich I 
believe to be incontestible ; and, for the sake of perspicuity, I 
will state them severally to the Senate. I shall contend — 

1st. That it was the deliberate purpose and fixed design of 
the late administration to establish a government bank — a trea- 
sury bank — to be administered and controlled by the executive 
department. 

2d. That, with that view, and to that end, it was its aim and 
intention to overthrow tlie whole banking system, as existing in 
the United States when the administration came into power, 
beginning with tile bank of the United States, and ending with 
the state banks. 

3d. That the attack was first confined, from considerations 
of policy, to the bank of the United States; but that, after its 
overthrow was accomplished, it was then directed, and has since 
been continued, against the state banks. 

4th. That the present administration, by its acknowledge- 
ments, emanating from the highest and most authentic source, 
has succeeded to the principles, plans and policy of the preceding 
administration, and stands solemnly pledged to complete and 
perfect them. 

And, 5th. That the bill under consideration is intended to 
execute the pledge, by establishing, upon the ruins of the late 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 325 

bank of the United States, and the state banks, a government 
bank, to be managed and controlled by the treasury department, 
acting under the commands of the President of the United 
States. 

I believe, solemnly believe, the truth of every one of these 
five propositions. In the support of them, I shall not rely upon 
any gratuitous surmises or vague conjectures, but upon proofs, 
clear, positive, undeniable and demonstrative. To establish the 
first four, I shall adduce evidence of the highest possible authen- 
ticity, or facts admitted or undeniable, and fair reasoning founded 
on them. And as to the last, the measure under consideration, 
I think the testimony, intrinsic and extrinsic, on which I depend, 
stamps, beyond all doubt, its true character as a government 
bank, and ought to carry to the mind of the Senate the con- 
viction which I entertain, and in which I feel perfectly confident 
the whole country will share. 

1. My first proposition is, that it was the deliberate purpose 
and fixed design of the late administration to establish a govern- 
ment Lank^a treasury bank — to be administered and controlled 
by the executive department. To establish its truth, the first 
proof which I offer is the following extract from President Jack- 
son's annual message of December, 1829 : 

" The charter of the bank of the United States expires in 
1836, and its stockholders will most probably apply for a renewal 
of their privileges. In order to avoid the evils resulting from 
precipitancy, in a measure involving such important principles, 
and such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I cannot, in justice 
to the parties interested, too soon present it to the consideration 
of the Legislature and the people. Both the constitutionality 
and the expediency of the law creating this bank are well ques- 
tioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens ; and it must 
be admiUed by all that it has failed in the great end of estab- 
lishing a uniform and sound currency. 

"Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed 
essential to the fiscal operations of the government, / submit to 
the wisdom of the Legislature, whether a national one, founded 
upon the credit of the government and its revenues, might not 
be devised, which Avould avoid all constitutional difficulties, and, 
at the same time, secure all the advantages to the government 
and the country that were expected to result from the present 
bank." 

This was the first open declaration of that implacable war 
against the late bank of the United States, which was afterwards 
waged with so much ferocity. It was the sound of the distant 
bugle to collect together the dispersed and scattered forces, and 
prepare for battle. The country saw with surprise the statement 
that " the constitutionality and expediency of the law creating 
this bank are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow- 
citizens," when, in truth and in fact, it was well known that but 
28 



.326 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

few then doubted the constitutionahty, and none the expediency 
of it. And the assertion excited much greater surprise, that " it 
must be admitted by all that it has failed in the great end of es- 
tabhshing a unilbrm and sound currency." In this message, too, 
whilst a doubt is intimated as to the utility of such an institution, 
President Jackson clearly first discloses his object to establish a 
national one, founded upon the credit of the governmeut and Us 
revenues. His language is perfectly plain and unequivocal. — 
Such a bank, founded upon the credit of the government and its 
revenues, would secure all the advantages to the government 
and the country, he tells us, that were expected to result from 
the present bank. 

In his annual message of the ensuing year, the late President 
says: 

"The importance of the principles involved in the inquiry, 
whether it will be proper to recharter the bank of the United 
States, requires that I should again call the attention of Congress 
to the subject. Nothing has occurred to lessen in any degree the 
dangers which many of our citizens apprehended from that in- 
stitution, as at present organized. In the spirit of improvement 
and compromise which distinguishes our country and its institu- 
tions, it becomes us to inquire whether it be not possible to secure 
the advantages afforded by the present bank, through the agency 
of a bank of the United States, so modified in its principles as to 
obviate constitutional and other objections. 

" It is thought practicable to organize such a bank, with the 
necessary officers, as a branch of the treasury department, based 
on the public and individual deposites, without power to make 
loans or purchase property, which shall remit the funds of the 
government ; and the expense of which may be paid, if thought 
advisable, by allowing its officers to sell bills of e.vchange to pri- 
vate individuals at a moderate premium. Not being a corporate 
body, having no stockholders, debtors and property, and but few 
officers, it would not be obnoxious to the constitutional objections 
which are urged against the present bank ; and having no means 
to operate on the hopes, fears, or interests of large masses of the 
community, it would be shorn of the influence which makes that 
bank formidable." 

In this message. President Jackson, after again adverting to 
the imaginary dangers of a bank of the United States, recurs 
to his favorite project, and inquires " whether it be not possible 
to secure the advantages afforded by the present bank, through 
the agency of a bank of the United States, so modified in its 
principles and structure as to obviate constitutional and other 
objections. And to dispel all doubts of the timid, and to confirm 
the wavering, he declares that it is thought practicable to orga- 
nize such a bank, with the necessary officers, as a branch of the 
treasury department. As a branch of the treasury department ! 
The very scheme now under consideration. And, to defray the 
expenses of such an anomalous institution, he suggests that the 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 327 

officers of the treasury department may turn bankers and bro- 
kers, and sell bills of exchange to private individuals at a mode- 
rate premium ! 

In his annual message of the year 1831, upon this subject, he 
was brief and somewhat covered in his expressions. But the 
fixed purpose which he entertained is sufficiently disclosed to the 
attentive reader. He announces that, 

" Entertaining the opinions heretolbre expressed in relation to 
the bankof the United States, as at present organized, I felt it 
my duty, in my former messages, frankly to disclose them, in 
order that the attention of the legislature and the people should 
be seasonably directed to that important subject, and that it 
might be considered, and finally disposed of, in a manner best 
calculated to promote the ends of the constitution, and subserve 
the public interests." 

What were the opinions 'heretofore' expressed we have clear- 
ly seen. They were adverse to the bank of the United States, 
as at present organized, that is to say, an organization with any 
independent corporate government ; and in favor of a national 
bank, which should be so constituted as to be subject to exclu- 
eive executive control. 

At the session of 1831-32, the question of the re-charter of the 
bank of the United States came up; and altliough the attention 
of Congress and the country had been repeatedly and deliber- 
ately before invited to the consideration of it by President Jack- 
eon himself, the agitation of it was now declared by him and 
his partizans to be precipitate and premature. Nevertheless, 
the country and Congress, conscious of the value of a safe and 
sound uniform currencj'^, conscious that such a currency had 
been eminently supplied by the bank of the United States, and, 
unmoved by all the outcry raised against that admirable institu- 
tion, the re-charter commanded large majorities in both houses 
of Congress. Fatally for the interests of this country, the stern 
self-will of General Jackson prompted him to risk every thing 
upon its overthrow. On the 10th of July, 1832, the bill was re- 
turned with his veto : from which the following extract is sub- 
mitted to the attentive consideration of the Senate. 

"A bank of the United States is, in many respects, convenient 
for the government and useful to the people. Entertaining this 
opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the 
powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unau- 
thorized by the constitution, subversive of the rights of the states, 
and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty, at 
an early period of my administration, to call the attention of Con- 
gress to the practicability of organizing an institution, combin- 
ing all its advantages, and obviating these objections. I sincere- 
ly regret that, in the act before me, I can perceive none of those 
modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my 
opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, 
or with the constitution of our country." 



328 ON THE SUB- TREASURY. 

" That a bank of the United States, competent to all the duties 
which may be required by government, might be so organized 
as not to infringe upon our own delegated powers, or the re- 
served fights of the states, I do not entertain a doubt. Had the 
executive been called upon to furnish the project of such an in- 
stitution the duty xcould have been cheerfully performed. In the 
absence of such a call, it is obviously proper that he should con- 
fine himself to pointing out those prominent features in the act 
presented, which in his opinion, make it incompatible with the 
constitution and sound policy." 

President Jackson admits, in the citation which has just been 
made, that a bank of the United States is, in many respects, 
convenient for the government ; and reminds Congress that he 
had, at an early period of his administration, called its attention 
to the practicability of so organizing such an institution as to 
secure all its advantages, without the defects of the existing 
bank. It is perfectly manifest that he alludes to his previous 
recommendations of a government — a treasury bank. In the 
same message he tells Congress, that if he had been called up- 
on to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty would 
have been cheerfully performed. Thus it appears that he had 
not only settled in his mind the general principle, but had ad- 
justed the details of a government bank, to be subjected to ex- 
ecutive control ; and Congress is even chided for not calling 
upon him to present them. The bill now under consideration, 
beyond all controversy, is the very project which he had in 
view, and is to consummate the work which he began. I think, 
Mr. President, that you must now concur with me in considering 
the first proposition as fully maintained. I pass to the second 
and third, which, on account of their intimate connexion, I will 
consider together. 

2. That, with a view of establishing a government bank, it 
was the settled aim and intention of the late administration to 
overthrow the whole banking system of the United States, as 
existing in the United States when that administration came 
into power, beginning with the bank of the United States, and 
ending with the state banks. 

3. That the attack was first confined, from considerations of 
policy, to the bank of the United States; but that, after its over- 
throw was accomplished; it was then directed, and has since 
been continued, against the state banks. 

We are not bound to inquire into the motives of President 
Jackson for desiring to subvert the established monetary and 
financial system which he found in operation ; and yet some ex- 
amination into those Avhich probably influenced his mind is not 
without utility. These are to be found in his peculiar constitu- 
tion and character. His egotism and vanity prompted him to 
subject every thing to his will ; to change, to remould, and re- 
touch every thing. Hence the proscription which characterized 
his administration, the universal expulsion from office, at home 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 329 

and abroad, of all who were not devoted to him, and the attempt 
to render the executive department of government, to use a fa- 
vorite expression of his own, a complete "unit." Hence hie 
seizure of the public deposits in the bank of the United States, 
and his desire to unite the purse with the sword. Hence his 
attack upon all the systems of policy which he found in practical 
operation — on that of internal improvements, and on tliat of the 
protection of national industry. He was animated by the same 
sort of ambition which induced the master-mind of the age, 
Napoleon Bonaparte, to impress his name upon every thing in 
France. When I was in Paris, the sculptors were busily en- 
gaged chiseling out the famous N., so odious to the Bourbon 
line, which had been conspicuous!)^ carved in the palace of the 
Tuilleries, and on other public edifices and monuments in the 
proud capital of France. When, Mr. President, shall we see 
effaced all traces of the ravages committed by the administra- 
tion of Andrew Jackson ? Society has been uprooted, virtue 
punished, vice rewarded, and talents and intellectual endow- 
ments despised ; brutality, vulgarism, and loco-focoism upheld, 
cherished, and countenanced. Ages will roll around before the 
moral and political ravages which have been committeJ, will, I 
i'ear, cease to be discernable. General Jackson's ambition was 
to make his administration an era in the history of the American 
government, and he has accomplished that object of his ambi- 
tion ; but I trust that it will be an era to^be shunned as sad and 
lamentable, and not followed and imitated as supplying sound 
maxims and principles of administration. 

I have heard his hostility to banks ascribed to some collision 
which he had with one of them, during the late war, at the city 
of New Orleans ; and it is possible that maj- have had some in- 
fluence upon Ills mind. The immediate cause, more probably, 
was the refusal of that perverse and unaccommodating gentle- 
man, Nick Biddle, to turn out of the office of president of the 
New Hampshire branch of the bank of the United States, at the 
instance of his excellency Isaac Hill, in the summer of 1829, that 
giant-like person, Jeremiah Mason — giant in body, and giant in 
mind. War and strife, endless war and strife, personal or na- 
tional, foreign or domestic, were the aliment of the late Presi- 
dent's existence. War against the bank, war against France, 
and strife and contention with a countless number of individu- 
als. The wars with Black Hawk and the Seminoles were 
scarcely a luncheon lor his voracious appetite. And he made 
his exit from public life, denouncing xvar and vengeance against 
Mexico and the state bank^. 

My acquaintance ivith that extraordinary man commenced in 
this city, in the fall of 1S15 or 1816. It waa short, but highly 
respectful, and mutually cordial. I beheld in him the gallant 
and successful general, wlio, by the glorious victory of New 
Orleans, had honorably closed the second war of our indepen- 
2S* 



S30 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

dence, and I paid him the homage due to that eminent service. 
A few years alter, it became my painful duty to animadvert, in 
the House of Representatives, with the independence which 
belongs to the Representative character, upon some of his pro- 
ceedings in the conduct of the Seminole war, which I thought 
illegal and contrary to the constitution and the law of nations. 
A non-intercourse between us ensued, which continued until the 
fall of 1824, when, he being a member of the Senate, an accom- 
modation between us was sought to be brought about by the 
principal part of the delegation from his own state. For that 
purpose, we were invited to dine with them at Claxton's boarding 
house, on Capitol Hill, where my venerable friend from Tennes- 
see, (Mr. White) and his colleage on the Spanish commission, 
were both present. I retired early from dinner, and was follow- 
ed to the door by General .Tackson and the present minister of 
the United States at the Court of Madrid. They pressed me 
earnestly to take a seat with them in their carriage. My faith- 
ful servant and friend, Charles, was standing at the door waiting 
for me, with my own. I yielded to their urgent politeness, di- 
rected Charles to follow with my carriage, and they sot me 
down at my own door. We afterwards frequently met, with 
mutual respect and cordiality ; dined several times together, and 
reciprocated the hospitality of our respective quarters. This 
friendly intercourse continued until the election, in the House of 
Representatives, of a President of the United States came on in 
February, 1825. I gave the vote which, in the contingency that 
happened, I told my colleague, (Mr. Crittenden,) who sits be- 
fore me, prior to my departure from Kentucky, in November, 
1824, and told others, that I should give. All intercour.se ceased 
between General Jackson and myself We have never since, 
except once accidentally, exchanged salutations, nor met, except 
on occasions when we were performing the last offices towarda 
deceased members of Congress, or other offices of government. 
Immediately after my vote, a rancorous war was commenced 
against me, and all the barking dogs let loose upon me. I shall 
not trace it during its ten years' bitter continuance. But I thank 
ray God that I stand here, firm and erect, unbent, unbroken, un- 
subdued, unawed, and ready to denounce the mischievous mea- 
sures of this administration, and ready to denounce thi.?, its legit- 
imate otlspring, the most pernicious of them all. 

His administration consisted of a succession of astounding 
measures, which fell on the public ear like repeated bursts of 
loud and appalling thunder. Before the reverberations of one 
peal had ceased, another and another came, louder and louder, 
and more terrifying. Or rather, it was like a volcanic mountain, 
emitting frightful eruptions of burning lava. Before one was 
cold and crusted, before the voice of the inhabitants of buried 
villages and cities were hushed in eternal silence, another, more 
desolating, was vomited forth, extending wider and wider the 
circle of death and destruction. 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 331 

Mr. President, this is no unnecessary digression. The per- 
sonal character of such a chief as I liave been describing, his 
passions, his propensities, the character of his mind, should be 
all thoroughly studied, to comprehend clearly his measures, and 
his administration. But I will now proceed to more direct and 
strict proofs of my second and third propositions. That he vva3 
resolved to break down the bank of the United States, is proven 
by the same citations from his messages which I have made, to 
exhibit his purpose to establish a treasury bank, is proven by 
his veto message, and by the fact that he did destroy it. The 
war against all other banks was not originally announced, be- 
cause he wished the state banks to be auxiliaries in over- 
throwing the bank of the United States, and because such 
an annunciation would have been too rash and shocking up- 
on the people of the United States for even his tremendoua 
influence. It was necessary to proceed in the work with 
caution, and to begin Avith that institution against which 
could be embodied the greatest amount of prejudice. The re- 
fusal to re-charter the bank of the United States was followed 
by a determination to remove from its custody the public money 
of the United States. That determination was first whispered 
in this place, denied, again intimated, and finally, in September, 
1833, executed. The agitation of the American public which 
ensued, the warm and animated discussions in the country and 
in Congress, to which that unconstitutional measure gave rise, 
are all fresh in our recollection. It was necessary to quiet the 
public mind, and to reconcile the people to what had been done, 
before President Jackson seriously entered upon his new career 
of hostility to the state banks. At the commencement of the 
session of Congress, in 1834, he imagined a sufficient calm had 
been produced, and, in his annual message of that year, the war 
upon the state banks was opened. In that message he says : 

" It seems due to the safety of the public funds remaining in 
that bank, and to the honor of the American people, that mea- 
sures be taken to separate the government entirely from an 
institution so mischievous to the public prosperity, and so re- 
gardless of the constitution and laws. By transferring the pub- 
lic deposites, by appointing other pension agents, as far as it 
had the power, by ordering the discontinuance of the receipt of 
bank checks in payment of the public dues after the first day of 
January next, the executive has exerted all its lawful authority to 
sever the connexion between the government and this faithless 
corporation." 

In this quotation it will be seen that tlie first germ is con- 
tained of that separation and divorce of tlie government from 
banks, which has recently made such a conspicuous figure. It 
relates, it is true, to the late bank of the United States, and he 
speaks of separating and severing the connexion between the 
government and that institution. But the idea, once developed, 
was easily susceptible of application to all banking institutions. 



332 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

In the message of the succeeding year, his meditated attack up- 
on the state banks is more distinctly disclosed. Speaking of a 
sound currency he says : 

" In considering the means of obtaining so important an end, 
[that is, a sound currency,] we must set aside all calculations 
of temporary convenience, and be influenced by those only that 
are in harmony with the true character and permanent interests 
of the republic. We must recur to first principles, and see what 
it is that has prevented the legislation of Congress and the 
states on the subject of currency from satisfying tiie public ex- 
pectation, and realizing results corresponding to those which 
have attended the action of our system when truly consistent 
with the great principle of equality upon which it rests, and with 
that spirit of forbearance and mutual concession and generous 
patriotism which was originally, and must ever continue to be, 
tlie vital element of our Union. 

" On this subject, I am sure that I cannot be mistaken in 
ascribing our want of success to the undue countenance which 
has been aflcrded to the spirit of monopoly. All the serious 
dangers which our system has yet encountered may be traced 
to the resort to implied powers, and the use of corporations 
clothed with privileges, the elTect of which is to advance the in- 
terests of the few at the expense of tlie many. We have felt 
but one class of these dangers, exhibited in the contest waged 
by the bank of the United States against the govenment for the 
last four years. Happily, they have been obviated for the pre- 
sent by the indignant resistance oi" the people ; but we should 
recollect that thu principle whence they sprang is an ever-active 
one, which will no I, fail to renew its elForts in the same and in 
other forms, so long as there is a hope of success; founded either 
on the inattention oi' the people, or tlie treachery of tiieir repre- 
sentatives to the subtle progress of its influence." 

* * * " We are now to see wliether, in the present 
favorable condition of the country, we cannot take an effectual 
stand against this spirit of monopoly, and practically prove, in 
respect to the currency, as well as other important interests, that 
there is no necessity for so extensive a resort to it as that which 
has been heretofore practised." 

* * ''' "It ha-s been seen that without the agency of 
a great monied monopoly the revenue can be collected, and con- 
veniently and safely applied to all the purposes of the public 
expenditure. It is also ascertained that, instead of being neces- 
sarily made to promote the evils of an uncliecked paper system, 
the management of tlie revenue can be made auxiliary to the 
reform which the legislatures of several of the states have al- 
ready commenced in regard to the suppression of small bills; 
and which has only to be fostered by proper regulations on the 
part of Congress?, to secure a practical return, to the extent re- 
quired for the security of the currency, to the constitutional 
medium." 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 333 

As in the instance of the attack upon the bank of the United 
States, the approach to the state banks is slow, cautious and 
insidious. He reminds Congress and the country that all calcu- 
lations of temporary convenience must be set aside ; that we 
must recur to first principles ; and that we must see what it 
is that has prevented legislation of Congress and the states 
on the subject of the currency Worn satisfying public expec- 
tation. He declares his conviction tha-t the want of success 
has proceeded from undue countenance which has been afford- 
ed to the spirit of monopoly. All the serious dangers which 
our system has yet encountered, may be traced to the resort 
to implied powers, and to the use of corporations. We have 
felt, he says, but one class of these dangers in the contest 
with the bank of the United States, and he clearly intimates 
that the other class is the state banks. We are now to see, he 
proceeds, whether, in the present favorable condition of the 
country, v/e cannot take an effectual stand against this spirit of 
monopoly. Reverting to his favorite scheme of a government 
bank, he says it is ascertained that, instead of being made ne- 
cessary to promote the evils of an unchecked paper system, the 
management of the revenue can be made auxiliary to the reform 
which he is desirous to introduce. The designs of President 
Jackson against the state banks are more fully developed and 
enlarged upon in his annual message of 1836, from which I beg 
leave to quote the following passages : 

" I beg leave to call your attention to another subject intimately 
associated with the preceding one — the currency of the country. 

"It is apparent, from the whole context of the constitution, as 
well as the history of the times that gave birth to it, that it was 
the purpose of the convention to establish a currency consisting 
of the precious metals. These, from their peculiar properties, 
which rendered them the standard of value in all other countries, 
were adopted in this, as well to establish its commercial stand- 
ard, in reference to foreign countries, by a permanent rule, as 
to exclude the use of a mutable medium of exchange, such as of 
certain agricultural commodities, recognized by the statutes of 
some states as a tender for debts, or the still more pernicious ex- 
pedient of a paper currency. 

"Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a currency 
of which the precious metals are not the chief ingredient, or 
which can be expanded or contracted without regard to the 
principles that regulate the value of those metals as a standard 
in the general trade of the world. With us, bank issues consti- 
tute such a currency, and must ever do sa, untd they' are made 
dependent on those just proportions of gold and silver, as a 
circulating medium, which experience has proved to be neces- 
sary, not only in this, but in all other commercial countries. — 
Where those proportions are not infused into the circulation, 
and do not control it, it is manifest that prices must vary ac- 
cording to the tide of bank issues, and the value and stability 



334 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

of property must stand exposed to all the uncertainty which 
attends the administration of institutions that are constantly lia- 
ble to the temptation of an interest distinct from that of the 
community in which they are established." 

'• But, although various dangers to our republican institutions 
have been obviated by the failure of that bank to extort from 
the government a renewal of its charter, it is obvious that little 
has been accomplished, except a salutary change of public 
opinion, towards restoring to the country the sound currency 
provided for in the constitution. In the acts of several of the 
states prohibiting the circulation of small notes, and the auxiliary 
enactments of Congress at their last session, forbidding their 
reception or payment on public account, the true policy of the 
country has been advanced, and a larger portion of the precious 
metals infused into our circulating medium. These measures 
will probably be followed up in due time by the enactment of 
state laws, banishing from circulation bank notes of still higher 
denominations ; and the object may be materially promoted by 
further acts of Congress, forbidding the employment, as fiscal 
agents, of such banks as issue notes of low denominations, and 
throw impediments in the way of the circulation of gold and 
silver." 

" The effects of an extension of hank credits and over-issues 
of bank paper, have been strikingly illustrated in the sales of the 
public lands. From the returns made by the various registers 
and receivers in the early part of last summer, it was perceived 
that the receipts arising from the sales of public lands were in- 
creasing to an unprecedented amount. In eflect, however, these 
receipts amount to nothing more than credits in banks. The 
banks lent out their notes to speculators; they were paid to the 
receivers, and immediately returned to the banks, to be lent out 
again and again, being mere instruments to transfer to specula- 
tors the most valuable public land, and pay the government 
by a credit on the books of the banks. Those credits on the 
books of some of the western banks, usually called deposites, 
were already greatly beyond their immediate means of payment, 
and were rapidly increasing. Indeed, each speculation furnished 
means for another ; for no sooner had one individual or company 
paid in the notes, than they were immediately lent to another 
for a like purpose ; and the banks were extending their business 
and their issues so largely as to alarm considerate men, and 
render it doubtful whether these hank credits, if permitted to 
accumidate, would iiltimately he of the least value to the govern- 
mejit. The spirit of expansion and speculation was not confined 
to the deposite banks, but pervaded the whole multitude of banks 
throughout the Union, and was giving rise to new institutions to 
aggravate the evil. 

" The safety of the public funds, and the interest of the people 
generally, required that these operations should be checked; 
and it became the duty of every branch of the general and 



ON THE SUB-TREASUKT. 33S 

~- iC governments to adopt all legitimate ancJ proper means to 
produce tliat salutary effect. Under this view of my duty, I 
directed the issuing of the order, which will be laid before you 
by the Secretary of the Treasury, requiring payment of the 
public lands sold to be made in specie, with an exception until 
the fifteenth of the present month in favor of actual settlers. — 
This measure has produced many salutary consequences. It 
checked the career of the western banks, and gave them addi- 
tional strength in anticipation of the pressure which has since 'f 
pervaded our eastern as well as the European commercial cities* 
By preventing the expansion of the credit system, it measurably 
cut off tile means of speculation, and retarded its progress m 
monopolizing the most valuable of the public lands. It has 
tended to save the new states from a non-resident proprietor- 
ship — one of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of a new 
country and the prosperity of an old one. It has tended to keep 
open the public lands for entry by emigrants at government 
prices, instead of their being compelled to purchase of specula- 
tors at double or treble prices. And it is conveying into the 
interior large sums in silver and gold, there to enter permanently 
into the currency of the country, and place it on a firmer founda- 
tion. It is confidently believed that the country will find, in the 
motives which induced that order, and the happy consequences 
which have ensued, much to commend and nothing to condemn." 

It is seen that he again calls the attention of Congress to the 
currency of the country, alledges that it was apparent from the 
whole context of the constitution, as well as tlie history of the 
times that gave birth to it, that it was the purpose of the conven- 
tion to establish a currency consisting of the precious metals; 
imputes variableness and a liability to inordinate contraction 
and expansion to the existing paper system, and denounces bank 
issues as being an uncertain standard. He felicitates himself 
upon the dangers which have been obviated by tlie overthrow 
ol' the bank of the United States, but declares that little has 
been yet done, except to produce a salutary change of public 
opinion towards rei?torhig to tl\e country the sound currency 
provldod for in the constitution. I will here say, in passing, \ 
tliar all this outcry about the precious metals, gold, and the \ 
constitutional currency, has been put forth to delude the people, \ 
and to use the precious metals as an instrument to break down 
the banking institutions of the states, and to thus pave the way 
for the ultimate establishment of a great government bank. In 
the present advanced state of civilization, in the present condi- 
tion of the commerce of the world, and in the actual relations 
of trade and intercourse between the different nations of the 
world, it is perfectly chimerical to suppose that the currency 
of the United States should consist exclusively, or principally, 
of the precious metals. ""' 

In the quotations which I have made from the last annual 
message of General Jackson, he speaks of the extension of bank 



•336 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

credits, and the over-issues of bank paper, in the operations upon 
the sales of public lands. In his message of only the preceding 
year, the vast amount of those sales had been dwelt upon with 
peculiar complaisance, as illustrating the general prosperity of 
the country, and as proof of the wisdom of his administration. 
But now that which had been announced as a blessing is depre- 
cated as a calamity. Now, his object being to assail the bank- 
ing institutions of the states, and to justify that fatal treasury 
order, whicli I shall hereafter have occasion to notice, he ex- 
presses his apprehension of the danger to which we are exposed 
of losing tlie public domain, aud getting nothing for it but bank 
credits. He describes, minutely, the circular process by which 
the notes of the banks passed out of those institutions to be 
employed in tJie purchase of tlie public lands, and returned 
again to them in the Ibrm of credits to the government. He 
forgets that Mr. Secretary Taney, to reconcile the people of the 
United States to the daring measure of removing the public 
deposites, had stimulated ihe banks to the exercise of great libe- 
rality in the grant of loans. He informs us, in that message, 
that the safely of the public funds, and the interests of the peo- 
ple generally, required that these copious issues of the banks 
should be checked, and that the conversion of the public lands 
into mere bank credits sliould be arrested. And his measure to 
accomplish these objects was that famous treasury order, already 
adverted to. Let us pause here for a moment, and contemplate 
the circumstances under which it was issued. The principle 
of the order had been proposed and discussed in Congress. But 
one Senator, as far as I know, in this branch of the Legislature, 
and not a solitary member, within my knowledge, in the House 
of Representatives, was in favor ol" it. And yet, in about a 
v/eek after the adjournment of Congress, the principle, which 
met with no countenance from the legislative authority, was 
embodied in the Ibrm of a treasury edict, and promulgated under 
the executive authority, to the astonishment of the people of the 
United States. 

If we possessed no other evidence whatever of the hostility 
of President Jackson to the state banks of tlie United States, 
that order would supply conclusive proof. Bank notes, bank 
issues, bank credits, were distrusted and denounced by him. It 
was proclaimed to the people that they Avere unworthy of confi- 
dence. The government could no longer trust in their security. 
And at a moment when the banking operations were extended, 
and stretched to their utmost tension; when they Avere almost 
all tottering and ready to fall, for the want of that metallic basis 
on which they all rested, the executive announces its distrust, 
issues the treasury order, and enters the market for specie, by a 
demand of an extraordinary amount to supply the means of 
purchasing tlie public lands. If the sales liad continued in the 
same ratio they had been made during the previous year, that 
is. at about the rate of twenty-four millions 'per annum, this unpre- 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 337 

cedented denaand created by government for specie must have 
exhausted the vaults of most of the banks, and produced much 
sooner the catastrophe which occurred in May last. And. what 
is more extraordinary, this wanton demand for specie upon all 
the banks of the commercial capitals, and in the busy and thickly 
peopled portions of the country, was that it might be transported 
into the wilderness, and, after having been used in the purchase 
of public lands, deposited to the credit of the government in the 
books of western banks, in some of which, according to the 
message, there were already credits to the government "greatly 
beyond their immediate means of payment." Government, 
therefore, did not itself receive, or ratber did not retain, the very 
specie which it professed to demand as the only medium worthy 
of the public lands. The specie, which was so uselessly exact- 
ed, was transferred from one set of banks, to the derangement 
of the commerce and business of the country, and placed in the 
vaults of another set of banks in the interior, forming only those 
bank credits to the government upon which President Jackson 
placed so slight a value. 

Finally, when General Jackson was about to retire from tbe 
cares of government, he favored his countrymen with a farewell 
address. The solemnity of tlie occasion gives to any opinions 
which he has expressed in that document a claim to peculiar 
attention. It will be seen, on perusing it, that he denounces, 
more emphatically than in any of his previous addresses, the 
bank paper of the country, corporations, and what he chooses to 
denominate the spirit of monopoly. The Senate will indulge 
me in calling its attention to certain parts of that address, in the 
following extracts: 

"The constitution of the United States unquestionably in- 
tended to secure to the people a circulating medium of go'd and 
silver. But the establishment of a national bank by Congress, 
with the privilege of issuing paper money receivable in payment 
of the public dues, and the unfortunate cause of legislation in 
the several states upon the same subject, drove from general 
circulation the constitutional currency, and substituted one of 
paper in its place." 

"The mischief springs from the power Avhich tlie moneyed 
interest derives from a paper currency, Avhich they are able to 
control ; from the multitude of corporations, Avith exclusive privi- 
leges, which they have succeeded in obtaining in the difl'erent 
states, and which are employed altogether for their benefit; and 
unless you become more watchful in your states, and check thie 
spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will, 
in the end, find that the most important powers of government 
have been given or bartered away, and the control over your 
dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corpora- 
tions." 

" But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your 
29 



338 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the pa- 
per system, and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses 
which have sprung up with it, and of vvhicli it is the main sup- 
port. So many interests are united to resist ali reform on this 
subject, that you must not hope that the conflict will be a short 
one, nor success easy. My humble efibrts have not been spared, 
during my administration of the government, to restore the con- 
stitutional currency of gold and silver: and something, I trust, has 
been done towards the accomplishment of this most desirable 
object. But enough yet remains to require all your energy and 
perseverance. The power, however, is in your hands, and the 
remedy must and will be applied, if you determine upon it."' 

The mask is now thrown off, and he boldly says that the 
constitution of the United States imqnestionahly intended to se- 
cure to the people a. circulating medium of gold and silver. — 
They have not enjoyed, he says, that benefit, because of the 
establishment of a national bank, avd the xmfortnnate course 
of legislation in the several states. He does not limit his con- 
demnation of the pastpolicy of his country to the federal govern- 
ment, of Avhich he had just ceased to be the chief, but he extends 
it to the states also, as if they were incompetent to judge of the 
interests of their respective citizens. He tells us tliat the mis- 
chief springs from the power which the monied interest derives 
from a paper currency, which they are able to control, and the 
multitude of corporations; and he stimulates the people to be- 
come more watchful in their several states, to check this spirit 
of monopoly. To invigorate their fortitude, he tells the people 
that it will require steady and persevering exertions, on their 
part, to rid themselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the 
paper system, and to check the spirit of monopoly. They 
must not hope that the conflict will be a short one, nor suc- 
cess easy. His humble efforts have not been spared, during hie 
administration, to restore the constitutional currency of gold 
and silver; and, although he has been able to do something to- 
wards the accomplishment of that object, enough yet remains to 
require all the energy and perseverance of the people. 

Such, Mr. President, are the proofs and the argument on which 
I rely to establish the second and third propositions which I have 
been considering. Are they not successfully maintained? Is it 
possible that any thing could be more conclusive on such a sub- 
ject? 

I pass to the consideration of the lourth proposition. 

4. That the present administration, by acknowledgments em- 
anating from the highest and most authentic source, has succeed- 
ed to the principles, plans, and policy, of the preceding admin- 
istration, and stand solemnly pledged to complete and perfect 
them. 

The proofs on this subject arc brief; but they are clear, dircc* 
nnd plenary. It is impossible for any unbiassed mind to doubt 
for a moment about ihcm. You, sir, will be surprised, when I 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 339 

shall array them before you, at their irresistible force. The first 
that I shall offer is an extract from Mr. Van Buren's letter of 
acceptance of the nomination of.the Baltimore convention, dated 
May 23d, 1835. In that letter he says : 

" I content myself, on this occasion, with saying that I consider 
myself the honored iiistniment, selected by the friends of the pre- 
sent administration, to catTy out its principles and poUcij ; and 
that, as well from inclination as from duty^ I shall, if honored 
with the choice of the American people, endeavor generally to 
follow in the footsteps of President Jackson, happy if I shall be 
able to perfect the work which he has so gloriously begun.''^ 

Mr. VanBuren announces that he was the honored instrument 
selected by the friends of the present administration, to carry out 
its principles and policy. The honored instrument ! That word, 
according to the most approved definition, means tool. He was, 
then, the honored tool — to do what? to promote the honor, and 
advance the welfare, of the people of the United States, and to 
add to the glory of his country '? No, no ; his country was not 
in his thoughts. Party, party, filled the place in his bosom which 
country should have occupied. He was the honored tool to car- 
ry out the principles and policy of Gen. Jackson's administration ; 
and if elected, he should, as well from inclination as from duty, 
endeavor, generally, to tread in the footsteps of Gen. Jackson — 
happy if he should be able to perfect the work which he had so 
gloriously begun. Duty to whom ? to the country, to the whole 
people of the United States? No such thing; but duty to the 
friends ol' the then administration ; and that duty required him 
to tread in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor, and to per- 
fect the work which he had begun ! Now, the Senate will bear 
in mind that the most distinguishing features of Gen. Jackson's 
administration related to the currency ; that he had denounced 
the banking institutions of the country ; that he had overthrown 
the bank of the United States ; that he had declared, when that 
object was accomplished, only one half the work was completed; 
that he then commenced a war against the state banks, in order 
to finish the other half; that he constantly persevered in, and 
never abandoned, his favorite project of a great government 
treasury bank ; and that he retired from the office of Chief Mag- 
istrate, pouring out, in his farewell address, anathemas against 
paper money, corporations, and the spirit of monopoly. When 
all these things are recollected, it is impossible not to comprehend 
clearly what Mr. Van Buren means, by carrying out the princi- 
ples and policy of the late administration. No one can mistake 
that those principles and that policy require him to break down 
tlie local institutions of the states, and to discredit and destroy 
the paper medium which they issue. No one can be at a loss to 
understand that, in following in the footsteps of President Jack- 
son, and in perfecting the work which he begun, Mr. Van Buren 
means to continue attacking^ systematically, the banks of the 
states, and to erect on their ruins that great government bank, 



340 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

begun by his predecessor, and which he is the honored instru- 
ment; selected to complete. The next proof which I shall offer 
is supplied by Mr. Van Buren's inaugural addres.^, from which 
1 request permission of the Senate to read the following ex- 
tract : 

" In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided 
to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so 
faithfully and so well, I know that I cannot expect to perform the 
arduous task with equal ability and success. But, united as I 
have been in his counsels, a daily witness of his exclusive and 
unsurpassed devotion to his country's Avelfare, agreeing with him 
in sentiments which his countrymen have warmly supported, and 
permitted to partake largely of his confidence, 1 may hope that 
somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be Ibund to at- 
tend upon my path ?" 

Here we find Mr. Van Buren distinctly avowing, what the 
American people well knew before, that he had been united in 
the councils of Gen. Jaclcson ; that he had agreed with him in 
ssntim.ents, and that he had partaken largely ol" his confidence. 
This intimacy and confidential intercourse could not liave exist- 
ed without the concurrence of Mr. Van Buren in all those lead- 
ing and prominent measures of his friend, which related to the 
establishment of a government bank, the overthrow ol" the bank 
cf the United States, the attack upon the state institutions, and 
the denunciation of the paper currency, the spirit of monopoly, 
and corporations. Is it credible that General Jackson should 
have aimed at the accomplishment of all those objects, and en- 
tertained all tliese sentiments, without Mr. Van Buren's partici- 
pation ? 

I proceed to another point of powerful evidence, in the con- 
duct of Mr. Van Buren, in respect to the famous treasury order. 
That order had been promulgated, originally, in defiance of the 
opinion of Congress, had been continued in operation in defiance 
of the wishes and will of the people, and had been repealed by 
a bill passed at the last ordinary session of Congress, by over- 
whelming majorities. The fate of that bill is well known. In- 
stead of being returned to the house in which it originated, ac- 
cording to the requirement of the constitution, it was sent to one 
of the pigeon-holes of the department of state, to be filed away 
with an opinion of a convenient attorney general, always ready 
to prepare one in support of executive encroachment. On the 
fifth of March last not a doubt was entertained, as far as my 
knowledge or belief extends, that Mr. Van Buren would rescind 
the obnoxious order. I appeal to the Senator from Mic-souri, 
who sits near me, (Mr. Linn,) to the Seuator from Mississippi, 
who sits farthest from me, (Mr. Walker,) to the Senator from 
Alabama, (Mr. King,) and to the whole of the administration 
Senators, if such was not the expectation of all of them. Was 
there ever an occasion in which a new administration had so fine 
an opportunity to signalize its commencement by an act of grace 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY, 341 

and wisdom, demanded by the best interests and most anxious 
wishes of the people ? But Mr. Van Buren did not think proper 
to embrace it. He had shared too largely in the confidence of 
his predecessor, agreed too fully with him in his councils, to re- 
scind an order which constituted so essential a part of the system 
which had been deliberately adopted to overthrow the state 
banks. 

Another course pursued by the administration, after the catas- 
trophe of the suspension of specie payments by the banks, de- 
monstrates the hostile purposes towards them of the present ad- 
ministration. When a similar event had occurred during the 
administration of Mr. Madison, did he discredit and discounte- 
nance the issues of the banks, by refusing to receive them in 
payment of the public dues ? Did the state governments, upon 
the former or the late occasion, refuse to receive them in pay- 
ment of the dues to them, respectively ? And if irredeemable 
bank notes are good enough for state governments and the peo- 
ple, are they not good enough for the lederal government of the 
same people ? By exacting specie, in all payments to the gene- 
ral government, that government presented itself in the market 
as a powerful and formidable competitor with the banks, demand- 
ing specie at a moment when the banks were making unexam- 
pled struggles to strengthen themselves, and prepare for the re- 
sumption of specie payments. The extent of this government 
demand for specie does not admit of exact ascertainment ; but 
when we reflect that the annual expenditures of the government 
were at the rate, including the post-office department, of about 
thirty-three millions of dollars, and that its income, made up ei- 
ther of taxes or loans, must be an equal sum, making together 
an aggregate of sixty-six millions, it will be seen that the amount 
of specie required for the use of government must be immensely 
large. It cannot be precisely determined, but would not be less 
probably than fifteen or twenty millions of dollars per annum. — 
Now, how is it possible for the banks, coming into the specie 
market in competition with all the vast power and influence of 
the government, to provide themselves with specie in a reasona- 
ble time to resume specie payments ? That competition would 
have been avoided, if, upon the stoppage of the banks, the notes 
of those of whose solidity there was no doubt, had been 
continued to be received in payment of the public dues, as was 
done in Mr. Madison's admuiislration. And why, Mr. President, 
should they not have been? Why should not this government 
receive the same description of medium which is found to answer 
all the purposes of the several state governments? Why should 
they have resorted to the expedient of issuing an inferior paper 
medium, in the form of treasury notes, and refusing to receive 
the better notes of safe and solid banks ? Do not misunderstand 
me, Mr. President. No man is more averse than I am to a per- 
manent inconvertible paper medium. It would have been as a 
29* 



342 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

temporaiy measure only that I should have thought it expedient 
to receive the notes of good local banks, li] along with that 
measure, the treasury order had been repealed, and other meas- 
ures adopted to encourage and coerce the resumption of specie 
payments, we should have been much nigher that desirable event 
than, I fear, we now are. Indeed, I do not see when it is possi- 
ble for the Isanks to resume specie payments, as long as the go- 
vernment is in the field making war upon them, and in the mar- 
ket demanding specie. 

Another conclusive evidence of the hostihty to the state banks, 
on the part of Mr. Van Buren, is to be found in that extraordi- 
nary recommendation of a bankrupt law, contained in his mes- 
sage at the extra session. According to all the principles of any 
bankrupt system with which I am acquainted, the banks, by the 
stoppage of specie payments, had rendered themselves liable to its 
operation. If the recommended law bad been passed, commissions 
of bankruptcy could have been immediately sued out against 
all the suspended banks, their assets seized, and the administra- 
tion of them transferred from the several corporations to which 
it is now entrusted, to commissioners appointed by the President 
himself Thus, by one blow, would the whole of the state banks 
have been completely prostrated, and the way cleared for the in- 
troduction of the favorite treasury bank ; and is it not in the same 
spirit of unfriendliness to those banks, and with the same view 
of removing all obstacles to the establishment of a government 
bank, that the bill was presented to the Senate a few days ago 
by the Senator i'rom Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) against the circu- 
lation of the notes of the old bank of the United States? At a 
time when there is too much want of confidence, and when every 
thing that can be done should be done lo revive and strengthen 
it, we are called upon to pass a law denouncing the heaviest 
penalty and ignominious punishment against all who shall reissue 
the notes of the old bank of the United States, of which we are told 
that about seven millions of dollars are in circulation ; and they 
constitute the best portion of the paper medium of the country ; 
the only portion of it which has a credit everywhere, and which 
serves the purpose of a general circulation ; the only portion with 
which a man can travel from one end of the continent to the oth- 
er ; and I do not doubt that the Senator who has fulminated those 
severe pains and penalties against that best part of our paper 
medium, provides himself with a sufficient amount of it, whenever 
he leaves Nashville, to take him to Washington. [Here Mr. 
Grundy rose, and remarked: No, sir; I always travel on specie.] 
Ah ! continued Mr. Clay, my old friend is always specious. I am 
quite sure that members from a distance in the interior generally 
find it indispensable to supply themselves, on commencing their 
journey, with an adequate amount of these identical notes to de- 
fray its expenses. Why, sir, Avill any man in his senses deny 
that these notes are far better tlian those which have been issued 
by that government banker, Mr. Levi Woodbury, aided though 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 343 

he be by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (I beg his pardon, I 
mean the ex-Chancellor,) the Senator from New- York, (Mr. 
Wright ?) I am not going to stop here to inquire into the strict 
legahty of the re-issue of these notes ; that question, together 
with the power of the government to pass tlae proposed bill, will 
be taken up when it is considered. I am looking into the motive 
of such a measure. Nobody doubts the perfect safety of the 
notes ; no one can believe that they will not be fairly and fully 
paid. What, then, is the design ot the bill 1 It is to assail the 
only sure general medium which the people possess. It is be- 
cause it may come in competition with treasury notes, or other 
government paper. Sir, if the bill had not been proposed by my 
old triend from Tennessee, I would say its author better deserv- 
ed a penitentiary punishment than those against whom it is di- 
rected. I remember to have heard of an illustrious individual, 
now in retirement, having, on some occasion, burst out into the 
most patriotic indignation, because of a waggish trick played off 
upon him, by putting a note of the late bank of the United States 
into his silk purse with his gold. 

But it is unnecessary to dwell longer on the innumerable proofs 
of the hostility against the state banks^ and the deliberate pur- 
pose of those in power to overthrow them. We hear and see 
daily throughout the country among their partisans and presses, 
denunciations against banks, corporations, rag barons, the spirit 
of monopoly, &c.; and the howl for gold, hard money and the 
constitutional currency ; and no one can listen to the speeches of 
honorable members, friends of the administration, in this house 
and the other, without being impressed with a perfect conviction 
that the destruction of the state banks is meditated. 

I have fulfilled my promise, Mr. President, to sustain the first 
four propositions with which I set out. I now proceed to the fifth 
proposition. 

5. That the bill under consideration is intended to execute Mr. 
Van Buren's pledge to complete and perfect the principles, plans 
and policy, of the past administration, by establishing upon the 
ruins of the late bank of the United States, and the state banks, 
a government bank, to be managed and controlled by the treas- 
ury department, acting under the commands of the President of 
the United States. 

The first impression made by the perusal of the bill is the 
prodigal and boundless discretion which it grants lo the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, irreconcilable with the genius of our free 
institutions, and contrary to the former cautious practice of the 

fovernment. As originally reported, he was authorised by the 
ill to allow any number of clerks he thought proper to the va- 
rious Receivers General, and to fix their salaries. It will be 
borne in mind that this is the mere commencement of a system ; 
and it cannot be doubted that, if put into operation, the number 
of Receivers General and other depositaries of the public money 
would be indefinitely raultipHed. He is allowed to appoint ae 



344 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

many examiners of the public money, and to fix their salaries, 
as he pleases ; he is allowed to erect at pleasure costly buildings ; 
there is no estimate for any thing ; and all who are conversant 
with the operations of the executive branch of the government, 
know the value and importance of previous estimates. There is 
no other check upon wasteful expenditure but previous estimates, 
and that was a point always particularly insisted upon by Mr. 
Jefferson. The Senate will recollect that, a few days ago, when 
the salary of the Receiver General at New-York was fixed, the 
chairman of the committee on finance rose in his place and stated 
that it was suggested by the Secretary of the Treasury that it 
should be placed at $3,000 ; and the blank was accordingly so 
filled. There was no statement of the nature or extent of the 
duties to be performed, of the time that he would be occupied, of 
the extent of his responsibility, or the expense of living at the 
several points where they w'ere to be located; nothing but the 
suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury, and that Avas deem- 
ed all-sufficient by a majority. There is no limit upon the ap- 
propriation which is made to carry into effect the bill, contrary 
to all former usage, which invariably prescribed a sum not to be 
transcended. 

A most remarkable feature in the bill is that to which I have 
already called the attention of the Senate, and of which no sat- 
isfactory explanation has been given. It is that which proceeds 
\ipon the idea that the treasury is a thing distinct from the trea- 
sure of the United States, and gives to the treasury a local habi- 
tation and a name, in the new building which is being erected 
for the treasury department in the city of Washington. In the 
treasury, so .constituted, is to be placed that pittance of the pub- 
lic revenue which is gleaned from the District of Columbia. All 
else, that is to say, nine hundred and ninety-nine hundredths of 
the public revenue of the United States is to be placed in the 
hands of the Receivers General, and the oUier depositaries be- 
yond the District of Columbia. Now, the constitution of the 
United States provides that no money shall be drawn from the 
public treasury but in virtue of a previous appropriation by law. 
That trifling portion of it, thereibre, which is within the District 
of Columbia, will bo under the safeguard of the constitution, and 
all else will be at tlie arbitrary disposal of the Secretary of the 
Treasury. 

It was deemed necessary, no doubt, to vest in the Secretary 
of the Treasury this vast and alarming discretionary power. A 
new and immense government bank is about to be erected. How 
it would -work in all its parts could not be anticipated with cer- 
tainty ; and it was thought proper, therefore, to bestow a discre- 
tion commensurate with its novelty and complexity, and adapted 
to any exigencies whicli might arise. The tenth section of the 
bill is that in which the power to create a bank is more particu- 
larly conferred. It is short, and I will read it to the Senate. 

" Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 345 

for the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer the moneys in the 
hands of any depositary liereby constituted, to the treasury of 
the United States ; to the mint at Philadelphia ; to the branch 
mint at New- Orleans; or to the offices of either of the Receivers 
General of public moneys, by this act directed to be appointed; 
to be there safely kept, according to the provisions of this act; 
and also to transfer moneys in the hands of any one depositary^ 
constituted by this ad., to any other depositary constituted by the 
same., at his discretion, and as the safety of the public moneys, 
and the convenience of the public service, shall seem to him to 
require. And, for the purpose of payments on the public ac- 
count, it shall be lawful for the said Secretary to draw upon any 
of the said depositaries, as he may think most conducive to the 
public interests, or to the convenience of the public creditors, 
or both." 

It will be seen that it grants a power, perfectly undefined, to 
the Secretary of the Treasury, to shift and transfer the public 
money, from depositary to depositary, as he pleases. He is 
expressly authorized to transfer moneys in the hands of any one 
depositary, constituted by the act, to any ether depositary con- 
stituted by it, at his discretion, and as tlie saiety of the public 
moneys, and the convenience of the public service, shall seem to 
him to require. There is no specification of any contingency or 
contingencies on which he is to act. All is left to his discretion. 
He is to judge when the public service (and more indefinite 
terms could not have been employed) shall seem to him to re- 
quire it. It has been said that this is nothing more than tlie 
customary power of transfer, exercised by the treasury depart- 
ment from the origin of the government. I deny it, utterly deny 
it. It is a totally different power from that which was exercised 
by the cautious Gallatin, and other Secretaries of the Treasury — 
a power, by the by, which, on more than one occasion, has been 
controverted, and which is infinitely more questionable than the 
power to establish a bank of the United States. The transfer 
was made by them rarely, in large sums, and were left to the 
banks to remit. When payments were made they were effected 
in the notes of banks with which tiie public money was deposited, 
or to which it was transferred. The rates of exchange were 
regulated by the state of the market, and under the responsi- 
bility of the banks. But here is a power given to transfer the 
public moneys, without limit as to sum, place or time, leaving 
every thing to the discretion of the Secretary of tlie Treasury, 
the Receivers General, and other depositaries. What a scope 
is allowed in the fixation of the rates of exchange, whether of 
premium or discount, to regulate the whole domestic exchanges 
of the country, to exercise favoritism! These Ibrmer transfers 
were not made for disbursement, but as preparatory to disburse- 
ment; and, when disbursed, it was generally in bank notes. — 
The transfers of this bill are immediate payments, and pay- 
ments made, not in bank notes, but in specie. 



346 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

The last paragraph in the section provides that, for the pur- 
pose of payments on the pubhc account, it shall be lawful for 
the Sectetary to draw upon any of the said depositaries, as he 
'may think most conducive to the public interest, or to the con- 
venience of the public creditors, or both. It Avill be seen that 
no limit whatever is imposed upon the amount or form of the 
draft, or as to the depositary upon which it is drawn. He is 
made the exclusive jadge of what is "most conducive to the 
public interests." Now let us pause a moment, and trace the 
operation of the powers thus vested. The government has a 
revenue of iVom twenty to thirty millions. The Secretary may 
draw it to any one or more points, as he pleases. More than a 
moiety of the revenue arising from customs is receivable at the 
port of New- York, to wiiich point the Secretary may draw all 
portions of it, if he ihioks it conducive to the public interest. 
A man has to receive, under an appropriation law, $10,000, and 
applies to Mr. Secretary for payment. Where will you receive 
it? he is asked. On New- York. How? In drafts from $5 to 
$500. Mr. Secretary will give him these drafts accordingly, 
upon bank note paper, impressed like and simulating bank notes, 
having all suitable emblazonry, signed by my friend the Treasu- 
rer, (whose excellent practical sense, and solid and sound judg- 
ment, if he had been at the head of the treasurj'-, instead of Mr. 
Levi Woodbury, when the suspension of specie payments took 
place, would have relieved or mitigated the pecuniary embar- 
rassments of the government and the people,) and counter- 
signed by the Comptroller, and filled up in the usual way of 
bank notes. Here is one of them, said Mr. Clay. [He here 
held up to the gaze of the Senate a treasury note, having all 
the appearance of a bank note, colored, engraved, and executed 
like any other bank note, for $50.] This, continued Mr. Clay, 
is a government post note, put into circulation, paid out as 
money, and prepared and sent forth, gradually to accustom the 
people of this country to government paper. 

I have supposed $10,000 to be received, in the mode stated, 
by a person entitled to receive it under an appropriation law. 
Now, let us suppose what he will do with it. Anywhere to the 
south or west it will command a premium of from two to five 

Eer cent. No where in the United States will it be under par. 
>o you suppose that the holder of these drafts would be fool 
enough to convert them into specie, to be carried and transported 
at his risk? Do you think that he would not prefer that this 
money should be in the responsible custody of the government, 
rather than in his own insecure keeping? Do you think that he 
will deny to himself the opportunity of realizing the premium 
of which he may be perfectly sure ? The greatest want of the 
country is a medium of general circulation, and of uniform value 
every where. That, especially, is our Avant in the western and 
interior states. Now, here is exactly such a medium ; and, sup- 
posing the government bank to be honestly and faithfully ad- 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 347- 

ministered, it will, during such an administration, be the best 
convertible paper money in the world, for two reasons. The 
first is, that every dollar of paper out will be the representative 
of a dollar of specie in the hands of the Receivers General, or 
other depositaries ; and, secondly, if the Receivers General 
should embezzle the peblic money, the responsibility of the gov- 
ernment to pay the drafts issued upon the basis ot that money 
would remain unimpaired. The paper, therefore, would be as 
far superior to the paper of any private corporation as the abihty 
and resources of the government of the United States are supe- 
rior to those of such corporations. 

The banking capacity may be divided into three faculties — 
deposites, discount of bills of exchange, and promissory notes, 
or either, and circulation. This government bank would com- 
bine them all, except that it would not discount private notes, 
nor receive private deposites. In payments for the public lands, 
indeed, individuals are allowed to make deposites, and to receive 
certificates of their amount. To guard against their negotiability, 
a clause has been introduced to render them unassignable. But 
how will it be possible to maintain such an inconvenient restric- 
tion, in a country where every description of paper imposing an 
obligation to pay money or deliver property is assignable, at 
law or in equit}^, Irom the commercial nature and trading charac- 
ter of our people ? 

Of all the faculties which I have stated of a bank, that which 
creates a circulation is the most important to the community at 
large. It is that in which thousands may be interested, who 
never obtained a discount, or made a deposite wnth a bank. 
Whatever a government agrees to receive in payment of the 
public dues, as a medium of circulation, is money, current money, 
no matter what its form may be, treasury notes, drafts drawn at 
Washington by the Treasurer, on the Receiver General at New- 
York, or, to use the language employed in various parts of this 
bill, "such notes, bills or paper issued under the authority of the 
United States." These various provisions were probably insert- 
ed not only to cover the case of treasury notes, but that of these 
drafts, in due season. But if there were no express provision 
of law, that these drafts should be receivable in payment of pub- 
lic dues, they would, necessarily, be so employed, from their 
own intrinsic value. 

The want of the community of a general circulation of uni- 
form value everywhere in the United States, would occasion 
vast amounts of the species of drafts which I have described to 
remain in circulation. The appropriations this year will proba- 
bly fall not much short of thirty millions. Thirty millions of 
treasury drafts on Receivers General, of every denomination 
and to any amount, may be issued by the Secretary of the 
Treasury. What amount would remain in circulation cannot 
be determined a priori, I suppose not less than ten or fifteen 
millions ; at the end of another year somi? ten or fifteen millions 



348 ON THE SUB-TREASURY, 

more ; they would fill all the channels of circulation. The war 
between the government and state banks continuing, and thia 
mammoth government bank being in the market, constantly 
demanding specie for its varied and ramihed operations, confi- 
dence would be lost in the notes of the local banks, their paper 
would gradually cease to circulate, and the banks themselves 
would be cripjled and broken. The paper of the government 
bank would ultimately fill the vacuum, as it would instantly 
occupy the place of the notes of the late bank of the United 
States. 

I am aware, Mr. President, that by the 25th section of the 
bill, in order to disguise the purpose of the vast machinery which 
Tve are about constructing, it is provided that it shall be the duty 
•of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue and publish regula- 
tions to enforce the speedy presentation of all government drafts 
for payments at the place where payable, &c. Now, what a 
tremendous power is here vested in the Secretary! He is to 
prescribe rules and regulations to enforce the speedy presenta- 
tion of all government urafis for payment at the place where 
payable. The speedy presentation! In the cz\.?e, I have sup- 
posed, a man has his $10,000 in drafts on the Receiver General 
at New-York. The Secretary is empowered to enact regula- 
tions requiring him speedily to present them, and, if he do not, 
the Secretary may order them to be paid at St. Louis. At New- 
York they may be worth a premium of five per cent.; on St. 
Louis they may be liable to a discount of five per cent. Now, 
in a free government, who would ever think of subjecting the 
property or money of a citizen to the exercise of such a power 
by any Secretary of the Treasury? What opportunity does it not 
afford to reward a partizan or pun'sh an opponent? It will be 
impossible to maintain such an odious and useless restriction for 
■any length of time. Why should the debtor (as the government 
would be in the case of such drafts as I have supposed) require 
his creditor (as the holder of the draft would be) to apply within 
a prescribed time for his payment? No, sir; the system would 
control you; you could not control the system. But, if such a 
ridiculous restriction could be so continued, the drafts would, 
nevertheless, whilst they were out, be the time long or short, 
perform the office of circulation and money. 

Let us trace a little further the operation of this government 
bank, and follow it out to its final explosion. I have supposed 
the appropriation of some thirty millions of dollars annually by 
the government, to be disbursed in the form of drafts, issued at 
Washington by the treasury department, upon the depositaries. 
Of that amount some ten or fitlecn millions would remain, the 
first year, in circulation ; at the end of another year, a similar 
amount would continue in circulation ; and so on, from year to 
year, until, at the end of a seines of some five or six years, there 
would be in circulation, to supply the indispensable wants of 
commerce and of a general medium of uniibrra valne, not less 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 349 

than some sixty or eighty millions of drafts issued by the govern- 
ment. These drafts would be generally upon the Receiver 
General at New- York, because on that point they would be 
preferred over all others, as they would command a premium, 
or be at par, throughout the whole extent of the United States; 
and we have seen that the Secretary of the Treasury is invested 
with ample authority to concentrate at that point the whole 
revenue of the United States. 

All experience has demonstrated that in banking operations s 
much larger amount of paper can be kept out in circulation thar 
the specie which it is necessary to retain in the vaults to meet i 
when presented for payment. The proportions which the samt 
experience has ascertained to be entirely safe, are one of specif 
to three of paper. If, therefore, the executive government haa 
sixty millions of dollars accumulated at the port of New- York, 
in the hands of the Receiver General, represented by sixty mil- 
lions of government drafts in circulation, it would be known that 
twenty of that sixty millions would be sufficient to retain to meet 
any amount of drafts which, in ordinary times, would be pre- 
sented tor payment. There would then remain forty millions in 
the vaults, idle and unproductive, and of -which no practical use 
could be made. Well, a great election is at hand in the state 
of New-York, tlie result of which will seal the fate of an exist- 
ing administration. If the application of ten millions of that 
dormant capital could save, at some future day, a corrupt execu- 
tive from overthrow, can it be doubted that the ten millions 
would be applied to preserve it in power? Again: let us sup- 
pose some great exigency to arise, a season of war, creating 
severe financial pressure and embarrassment. Would not an 
issue of paper, founded upon and exceeding the specie in the 
vaults, in some such proportions as experience had demonstrate^ 
might be safely emitted, be authorized? Finally, the whoh 
amount of specie might be exhausted, and then, as it is easie' 
to engrave and issue bank notes than to perform the impopulai 
office of imposing taxes and burdens, the discovery would be 
made that the credit of the government was a sufficient basis 
whereupon to make emissions of paper money, to be redeemed 
when peace and prosperity returned. Then we should have the 
days of continental money, and of assignats, restored ! Then 
we should have that government paper medium, which the 
Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,) considers the 
most perfect of all currency! 

Meantime, and during {he progress of this vast government 
machine, the state banks would be all prostrated. Working 
well, as it may, if honestly administered, in the first period of its 
existence, it will be utterly impossible tor them to maintain the 
unequal competition. They could not maintain it, even if tlie 
government were actuated by no unfriendly feelings towards 
them. But, when we know the spirit which einimates the present 
30 



350 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

executive towards them, who can doubt that tliey must fall in 
the unequal contest? Their issues will be discredited and dis- 
countenanced ; and that system of baniiruptcy which the Presi- 
dent would even now put into operation against them, will, in 
the sequel, be passed and enforced without difficulty. 

Assuming the downfall of the local banks, the inevitable con- 
sequence of the operations of this great government bank; as- 
suming, as I have shown would be the case, that the government 
would monopolize the paper issues of the country, and obtain 
the possession of a great portion of tlie specie of tlie country, 
we should then behold a combined and concentrated moneyed 
power, equal to that of all the existing banks of the United 
States, with that of the late bank of the United States super- 
added. This tremendous power would be wielded by the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, acting under the immediate commands 
of the President of the United States. Here would be a perfect 
union of the sword and the purse; here would be no imaginary, 
but an actual, visible, tangible, consolidation of the moneyed 
power. Who or what could withstand it? The states them- 
selves would become supphants at the feet of the executive for 
a portion of those paper emissions, of the pov/er to issue which 
they had been stripped, and which he now exclusively possessed. 

Mr. President, my observation and experience have satisfied 
me that the safety of liberty and prosperity consists in the di- 
vision of power, whether political or pecuniary. In our federa- 
tive system, our security is to be found in that happy distribu- 
tion of power which exists between the federal government and 
the state governments. In our monetary system, as it lately 
existed, its excellence resulted from that beautiful arrangement 
by which the states had their institutions for local purposes, and 
the general government its institution for the more general pur- 
poses of the whole Union. There existed the greatest conge- 
niality between all the parts of this admirable system. All was 
homogeneous. There was no separation of the federal govern- 
ment from the states, or from the people. There was no attempt 
to execute practically that absurdity of sustaining, among the 
same j)eople, two different currencies of unequal value. And 
how admirably did the whole system, during the forty years of 
its existence, move and work! And, on ihe two unfortunate 
occasions of its ceasing to exist, how quickly did the business 
and transactions of the country run into wild disorder, and utter 
eonl'usion. 

Hitherto, I have considered this new project as it is, according 
:o its true nature and character, and what it must inevitably be- 
come. I liave not examined it as it is not, but as its tnenda 
would represent it to be. They hold out the idea that it is a 
simple contrivance to collect, to keep and to disburse the public 
revenue. In that view of it, every consideration of safety and 
security recommends the agency of responsible corporations, 
••other than the employment of particular individuals. It has 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 351 

been shown, during the course of this debate, that the amount 
which has been lost by the defalcation of individuals has ex- 
ceeded three or four times the amount of all that has been lost 
by the local banks, although the sums confided to the care of indi- 
viduals have not been probably one-tenth part of the amount 
that has been in the custody of the local banks. And Ave all 
know thai, during the forty years of the existence of the two 
banks of the United States, not one cent was lost of the pubhc 
revenue. 

I have been curious, Mr. President, to know whence this idea 
of Receivers General was derived. It has been supposed to 
have been borrowed from France. It required all the power 
of that most extraordinary man that ever lived. Napoleon Bona- 
parte, when he was in his meridian greatness, to displace the 
Farmers General, and to substiiute in their place the Receivers 
General. The new system requires, I think I have heard it 
stated, something like 100,000 employees to have it executed. 
And, notwithstanding the modesty of the infant promises of this 
new project, I have no doubt that ultimately we shall have to 
employ a number of persons approximating to that which is 
retained in France. That will undoubtedly be the case when- 
ever we shall revive the system of internal taxation. In France, 
what reconciled them to the system was, that Napoleon first, 
and the Bourbons afterwards, were pleased with the immense 
patronage which it gave them. They liked to have 100,000 de- 
pendents to add strength to the throne, which had been recently 
constructed or re-ascended. 

I thought, however, that the learned chairman of the commit- 
tee on finance must have had some other besides the French 
model for his receivers general ; and accordingly, upon looking 
into Smith's history of his own state, I found that, when it was 
yet a colony some century and a half ago, and when its present 
noble capital still retained the name of New Amsterdam, the 
historian says : " Among the principal laws enacted at this ses- 
sion, we may mention that for establishing the revenue, which 
was drawn into precedent. The sums raised by it were made 
payable into the hands of receivers general, and issued by the 
governor's warrant. By this means the governor became, for a 
season, independent of the people, and hence we find frequent 
instances of the assemblies contending with him for the dis- 
charge of debts to private persons contracted on the faith of the 
government." The then governor of the colony was a man of 
great violence of temper, and arbitrary in his conduct. How 
the sub-treasury system of that day operated, the same historian 
informs us in a subsequent part of his work. " The revenue," 
he says, " established the last year, was at this session continued 
five years longer than was originally intended. This was ren- 
dering the governor independent of the people. For, at that 
day, the assembly had no treasure, but the amount of all taxes 
went, of course, into the hands of the receiver general, who was 



3o2 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

appointed by the crown. Out of this fund, moneys were only 
issuable by the governor's warrant, so that every officer in the 
government, from Mr. Blaitliwait, who drew annually five per 
cent, out of the revenue, as auditor general, down to the meanest 
servant of the public, became dependent, solely, on the governor. 
And hence we find the house, at the close of every session, 
humbly addressing his excellency lor the trifling wages of their 
own clerk." And, Mr. President, if this measure should unhap- 
pily pass, the day may come when the senate of the United 
States will have humbly to implore some future President of the 
United States to grant it money to pay the wages of its own 
sergeant-at-arms and doorkeeper. 

Who, Mr. President, are the most conspicuous of those who 
perseveringly pressed this bill, upon Congress and the American 
people? Its drawer is the distinguished gentleman in the white 
house not far oil'; its endorser is the distinguished senator from 
South Carolina, here present. What the drawer thinks of the 
endorser, his cautious reserve and stifled enmity prevent us from 
knowing. But the frankness of the endorser has not left us in 
the same ignorance with respect to his opinion of the drawer. 
He has often expressed it upon the floor of the Senate. On an 
occasion not very distant, denying him any of the nobler qualities 
of the royal beast of the forest, he attributed to him those which 
belong to the most crafty, most skulking, and one of the meanest 
of the quadruped tribe. Mr. President, it is due to myself to 
say that I do not altogether share with the senator from South 
Carolina in this opinion of the President of the United States. 
I have always found him, in his manners and deportment, civil, 
courteous, and gentlemanly; and he dispenses, in the noble 
mansion which he now occupies, one worthy the residence of the 
chief magistrate of a great people, a generous and liberal hospi- 
tality. An acquaintance with him of more than twenty years' 
duration has inspired me with a respect for the man, although, I 
regret to be compelled to say, I detest the magistrate. 

The eloquent senator from South Carolina has intimated that 
the course of my friends and myself, in opposing this bill, was 
unpatriotic, and that we ought to have followed in his lead; and, 
in a late letter of his, he has spoken of his alliance with us, and 
of his motives for quitting it. I cannot admit the justice of his 
reproach. We united, if indeed, there were any alliance in the 
case, to restrain the enormous expansion of executive power ; to 
arrest the progress of corruption ; to rebuke usurpation ; and to 
drive the Goths and Vandals from the capital ; to expel Brennua 
and his horde from Rome, who, when he threw his sword into 
the scale, to augment the ransom demanded from the mistress 
of the world, showed his preference for gold ; that he was a 
hard money chieftain. It was by the much more valuable metal 
of iron that he was driven from her gates. And how often have 
we witnessed the senator from South Carolina, with woful coun- 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 353 

tenance, and in doleful strains, pouring forth touching and 
mournful eloquence on the degeneracy of the times, and the 
downward tendency of the republic ? Day after day, in the 
Senate, have we seen the displays of his lofty and impassioned 
eloquence. Although I shared largely with the senator in his 
apprehension for the purity of our institutions, and the perman- 
ency of our civilliberty, disposed always to look ot the brighter 
side of human affairs, I was sometimes inclined to hope that the 
vivid imagination of the senator had depicted the dangers by 
which we were encompassed in somewhat stronger colors than 
tliey justified. The arduous contest in Avhich v/e were so long 
engaged was about to terminate in a glorious victory. The very 
object for which the alliance was formed was about to be accom- 
plished. At this critical moment the senator left us ; he left us 
for the very purpose of preventing the success of the common 
cause. He took up his musket, knapsack, and shot-pouch, and 
joined the other party. He went, horse, foot, and dragoon, and 
ne himself composed the whole corps. He went, as his present 
most distinguished ally commenced with his expunging resolu- 
tion, solitary and alone. The earliest instance recorded in his- 
tory, within my recollection, of an ally drawing off his forces 
from the combined army, was that of Achilles at the seige of 
Troy. He withdrew, with all his troops, and remained in the 
neighborhood, in sullen and dignified inactivity. But he did not 
join the Trojan forces ; and when, during the progress of the 
eeige, his faithful friend fell in battle, he raised his avenging 
arm, drove the Trojans back into the gates of Troy, and satiat- 
ed his vengeance by slaying Priam's noblest and dearest son, 
the finest hero in the immortal Illiad. But Achilles had been 
wronged, or imagined himself wronged in the person of the fair 
and beautiful Briseis. We did no wrong to the distinguished 
senator from South Carolina. On the contrary, we respected 
him, confided in his great and acknowledged ability, his uncom- 
mon genius, his extensive experience, his supposed patriotism ; 
above all, we confided in his stern and inflexible fidelity. Never- 
theless, he left us, and joined our common opponents, distrusting 
and distrusted. He left us, as he tells us in the Edgefield letter, 
because the victory which our common arms were about to 
achieve, was not to enure to him and his party, but exclusively to 
the benefit of his allies and their cause. I thought that, actuated 
by patriotism — that noblest of human virtues — we had been 
contending togislher for our common country, lor her violated 
rights, her threatened liberties, her prostrate constitution. Never 
did I suppose that personal or party considerations entered into 
our views. Wiiether, if victory shall ever again be about to 
perch upon the standard of the spoils party, — the denomination 
which the senator from South Carolina has so often given to his 
present allies — he will not feel himself constrained, by the prin- 
ciples on which he has acted, to leave them because it rnav not 
30* 



354 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

enure to the benefit of himself and his party, I leave to be ad- 
justed between themselves. 

The speech of the senator from South Carolina, was plausible, 
ingenious, abstract, metaphysical, and generalizing. It did not 
appear to me to be adapted to the bosoms and business of 
human life. It was aerial, and not very high up in the air, Mr. 
President, either, not quite as high as Mr. Clayton was in his 
last ascension in his baloon. The senator announced that there 
was a single alternative, and no escape from one or the other 
branch of it. He stated that we must take the bill under consi- 
deration, or the substitute proposed by the senator from Virginia. 
I do not concur in that statement of the case. There is another 
course embraced in neither branch of the senator's alternative ; 
and that course is to do nothing ; always the wisest when you 
are not certain what you ought to do. Let us suppose that 
neither branch of the alternative is accepted, and that nothing ia 
done. What then, would be the consequence ? There would 
be a restoration of the law of 1789, with all its cautious provis- 
ions and securities, provided by the wisdom of our ancestors, 
which has been so trampled upon by the late and present ad- 
ministrations. By that law, establishing the treasury depart- 
ment, the treasure of the United States is to be received, kept, 
and disbursed by the treasurer, under a bond with ample se- 
curity, under a large penalty fixed by law, and not left, as this 
bill leaves it, to the uncertain discretion of a secretary of the. 
treasury. If, therefore, we were to do nothing, that law 
would be revived ; the treasurer Avould have the custody, as 
he ought to have, of the public money, and doubtless he 
would make special deposites of it in all instances, with safe and 
sound state banks, as in some cases the secretary of the treasury 
is now obliged to do. Thus, we should have in operation that 
very special deposite system, so much desired by some gentle- 
men, by which the public money would remain separate and un- 
mixed with the money of banks. There is yet another course, 
unembraced by either branch of the alternative presented by the 
senator from South Carolina; and that is to establish a bank of 
the United Slates, constituted according to tlie old and approved 
method of forming such an institution, tested and sanctioned by 
experience; a bank of the United States which should blend 
public and private interests, and be subject to public and private 
control, united together in such a manner as to present safe and 
salutary checks against all abuses. The senator mistakes hia 
own abandonment of that institution as ours. I know that the 
party in power has barricaded itself against the eslablishmeni 
of such a bank. It adopted, at the last extra session, the extra- 
ordinary and unprecedented resolution, that the people of th< 
United States should not have such a bank, although it migh 
be manifest that there was a clear majority of them demanding 
it. But the day may come, and I trust is not distant, when th- 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 355 

will of the people must prevail ia the councils of her own gov- 
ernment ; and when it does arrive a bank will be established. 

The senator from South Carolina reminds us that v/e de- 
nounced the pet bank system ; and so we did, and so we do. 
But does it therefore follow that, bad as that system was, we 
must be driven into the acceptance of a system infinitely worse ? 
He tehs us that the bill under consideration takes the public 
funds out of the hands of the executive, and places them in the 
hands of the law. It does no such thing. They are now 
without law, it is true, in the custody of the executive ; and 
the bill proposes by law to confirm thorn in that custody, and to 
convey new and enormous powers of control to the executive 
over them. Ev^ery custodary of the public funds provided by 
the bill is a creature of the executive, dependent upon his breath, 
and subject to the same breath for removal, v/henever the exe^ 
cutive, Irom caprice, from tyranny, or from party motives, shall 
choose to order it. What safety is there for the public money, 
if there were a hundred subordinate executive officers charged 
with its care, whilst the doctrine of the absolute unity of the 
whole executive power, promulgated by the last administrationj 
and persisted in by this, remains unrevoked and unrebuked ? 

Whilst the senator from South CaroUna professes to be the 
friend of state banks, he has attacked the whole banking system 
of the United States. He is their friend; he only thinks they 
are all unconstitutional! Why? Because the coining power 
is possessed by the general government, and that coining power, 
he argues, was intended to supply a currency of the precious 
metals ; but the state banks absorb the precious metals, and 
withdrew them from circulation, and, therefore, are in conflict 
with the coining power. That power, according to my view of 
it, is nothing but a naked authority to stamp certain pieces of 
the precious metals, in fixed proportions of alloy and pure metal 
prescribed by law, so that their exact value be known. When 
that office is perlbrmed, the power h fundus officio ; the money 
passes out of the mint, and becomes the lawiul properly of those 
who legally acquire it. They may do with it as they please, 
throw it into the ocean, bury it in the earth, or melt it in a cru- 
cible, without violating any law. When it has once left the 
vaults of the mint, the law maker has nothing to do with it, but 
to protect it against those who attempt to debase or counterfeit, 
and, subsequently, to pass it as lawful money. In the sense in 
which the senator supposes banks to conflict with the coining 
power, foreign commerce, and especially our commerce with 
China, conflicts with it much more extensively. That is the 
great absorbent of the precious metals, and is therefore much 
more unconstitutional than the state banks. Foreign commerce 
sends them out of the country ; banks retain them within it. 
Tlie distinguished senator is no enemy to the banks ; he merely 
thinks them injurious to the morals and industry of the country. 
He likes them very well, but he nevertheless believes that they 



356 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

levy a tax of twenty-five millions annually on the industry of 
the country ! Let us examine, Mr. President, and see how this 
enormous and iniquitous assessment is made, according to the 
argument of the senator I'rom South Carolina. He states that 
there is a mass of debt due from the community to the banks, 
amounting to $475,000,000, the interest upon which, constituting 
about that sum of $25,000,000, forms the exceptionable tax. 
Now, this sum is not paid by the whole community, but only by 
those individuals who obtain discounts from the banks. They 
borrow money at six per cent, interest, and invest it in profitable 
adventures, or otherwise employ it. They Avould not borrow 
it if they did not suppose they could make profit by it ; and 
the probability is, that they do make profit by it. Instead, 
therefore, of there being any loss in the operation, there is an 
actual gain to the community, by the excess of profit made be 
yond six per cent, interest, which they pay. What are banks ? 
They are mere organized agencies for the loan of money and 
the transaction of monetary business ; regulated agencies acting 
under the prescriptions of law, and subject to a responsibility, 
moral and legal, far transcending that under which any private 
capitalist operates. A number of persons, not choosing to lend 
out their monej^ privately, associate together, bring their respec- 
tive capitals into a common stock, which is controlled and man- 
aged by the corporate government of a bank. If no association 
whatever had been formed, a large portion of this capital, there- 
fore, of that very debt of $475,000,000, would still exist, in the 
shape of private loans. 

The senator from South Carolina might as well collect the 
aggregate amount of all the mortsao'es, bonds, and notes, which 
have been executed in the United States for loans, and assert 
that the interest paid upon the total sura constituted a tax levied 
upon the community. 

In the liquidation of the debt due to the banks from the com- 
munity, and from banks to the community, there would not be 
as much difficulty as the senator seems to apprehend. From 
the mass of debts due to the banks are to be deducted, first, the 
amount of subscriptions which constitute their capitals ; second- 
ly, the amount of deposites to the credit of individuals in their 
custody; and, thirdly, the amount of their notes in circulation. 
How easily will these mutual debts neutralize each other ! The 
same person, in numberless instances, will combine in himself 
the relations both of creditor and debtor. 

The only general operation of banks beyond their discounts 
Jind deposites, which pervades the whole community, is that of 
furnishing a circulation in redeemable paper, beyond the amount 
of specie to redeem it in their vaults. And can it be doubted that 
this additional supply of money furnishes a powerful stimulus to 
industry and production, fully compensating any casual inconve- 
nience, which sometimes, though rarely, occurs? Banks reduce 
the rate of interest, and repress inordinate usury. The salutary 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 357 

influence of banking operations is demonstrated in countries and 
sections of country where they prevail, when contrasted with 
those in which they are not found. In the former, all is bustle, 
activity, general prosperity. The country is beautified and 
adorned by the noble works of internal improvements ; the cities 
are filled with splendid edifices, and the wharves covered with the 
rich productions of our own and of foreign climates. In the 
latter, all is sluggishness, slothfulness, and inactivity. England, 
in modern times, illustrates the great advantages of banks, of 
credit, and of stimulated industry. Contrast her with Spain, 
destitute of all those advantages. In ancient times, Athena 
would present an image of full and active employment of all the 
energies of man, carried to the highest point of civilization, 
whilst her neighbor, Sparta, with her iron money, affords an- 
other of the boasted benefits of metalic circulation. 

The senator from South Carolina would do the banks no 
harm ; but they are deemed by him highly injurious to the 
planting interest ! According to him, they inflate prices, and 
the poor planter sells his productions for hard money, and has to 
purchase his supplies at the swolen prices produced by a paper 
medium. Now, I must dissent altogether from the senator's 
statement of the case. England, the principal customer of the 
planter, is quite as much, if not more a paper country than ours. 
And the paper-money prices of the vne country are neutralized 
by the paper-money prices of the other country. If the argu- 
ment were true that a paper-money country trades disadvanta- 
geously with a hard-money country, we ought to continue to 
employ a paper medium, to counterbalance the paper medium 
of England. And if we were to banish our paper, and substi- 
tute altogether a metallic currency, we should be exposod to the 
very inequality v/hich has been insisted upon. But there is no- 
thing in that view of the matter which is presented by the Sena- 
tor from South Carolina. If, as he asserts, prices were always 
inflated in this country beyond their standard in England, the 
rate of exchange would be constantly against us. An examina- 
tion, however, into the actual state of exchange between the two 
countries, for a long series of years, evinces that it has generally 
been in our favor. In the direct trade between England and this 
country, I have no doubt there is a large annual balance against 
us ; but that balance is adjusted and liquidated by balances in 
our favor in other branches of our foreign trade, which have been 
finally concentrated in England, as the great centre of the com- 
mercial world. 

Of all the interests and branches of industry in this country, 
none has profited more by the use and employment of credit and 
capital derived from the banks and other sources, than the plant- 
ing interest. It habitually employs credit in all countries where 
planting agriculture prevails. The states of Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, have almost sprung into exist- 
ence, as it were, by magic, or at least, have been vastly improved 



358 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

and extended, under the influence of the credit system. Lands, 
slaves, utensils, beasts of burden, and other supplies, have been 
constantly bought, and still continue to be purchased, upon cre- 
dit; and bank agency is all-essenlial to give the most beneficial 
operation to these credits. But the argument of the Senator 
from South Carolina, which I am combating, would not be cor- 
rect, if it were true that we have inflated prices on this side of 
tlie Atlantic, without a corresponding inflation of price on the 
other side ; because the planter, generally selling at home, and 
buying at home, the proceeds of his sale, whatever they may be, 
constitute the means by which he effects his purchases, and con- 
sequently neutralizes each other. In what do we of the west 
receive payment for the immense quantity of live stock and oth- 
er produce of our industry, which we annually sell to the south 
and southwest, but that paper medium noAvso much decried and 
denounced? The Senator from South Carolina is very fond of 
the state banks ; but he thinks there is no legitimate currency 
except that of the constitution. He contends that the power 
which the government possesses to impose taxes restricts it, in 
their payment, to the receipt of the precious metals. But the 
constitution does not say so. The power is given in broad and 
unrestricted terms ; and the government is left at liberty to col- 
lect the taxes in whatever medium or commodity, from the exi- 
gencies of the case, it can collect them. It is, doubtless, much 
the most convenient to collect them in money, because that re- 
presents, or can command, every thing, the want of which is im- 
plied by the power of taxation. But suppose there was no mo- 
ney in the country, none whatever, to be extorted by the tax- 
gatherer from an impoverished people? Is the power of 
government to cease, and the people to be thrown back into a 
state of nature? The Senator asks if taxes could be levied and 
collected in tobacco, in cotton, and other commodities ? Undoubt- 
edly they could, if the necessity existed for such an inconvenient 
imposition. Such a case of necessity did exist in the colony of 
Virginia, and other colonies, prior to the revolution, and taxea 
were accordingly levied in tobacco or other commodities, as woli- 
scalps, even at this day, compose a part of the revenue of more 
tlian one state. 

The argument, then, of the Senator against the right of the 
government to receive bank notes in payment of public dues, a 
practice coeval with the existence of the government, does not 
seem to me to be sound. It is not accurate, for another reason. 
Bank notes, when convertible at the will of the holder into specie, 
are so much counted or told specie, like the specie which is count- 
ed and put in marked kegs, denoting the quantity of their con- 
tents. The Senator tells us that it has been only within a few 
days that he has discovered that it is illegal to receive bank note& 
in payment of pubhc dues. Does he think that the usage of the 
government under all its administrations, and with every party 
in power, which has prevailed for nigh fifty years, ought to be 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 359 

eet aside by a novel theory of his, just dreamed into existence, 
even if it possess the merit of ingenuity ? The bill under con- 
sideration, which has been eulogized by the Senator as perfect 
in its structure and details, contains a provision Ihat bank notes 
shall be received in diminished proportions, during a term of six 
years. He himself introduced the identical principle. It is the 
only part of the bill that is emphatically his. How, then, can he 
contend that it is unconstitutional to receive bank notes in pay- 
ment of public dues ? I appeal from himself to himself The 
Senator further contends, that general deposites cannot be made 
Avith banks, and be thus confounded with the general mass of the 
funds on which they transact business. The argument supposes 
that the money collected for taxes must be preserved in identity; 
but that is impossible, often, to do. May not a collector give the 
small change which he has received from one tax-payer to ano- 
ther tax-payer to enable him to effect his payment? May he not 
change gold for silver, or vice versa, or both, if he be a distant 
collector, to obtain an undoubted remittance to the public treas- 
ury ? What, Mr. President, is the process of making deposites 
with banks ? The deposite is made, and a credit is entered for 
its amount to tiie government. That credit is supposed to be the 
exact equivalent of the amount deposited, ready and forthcoming 
to the government whenever it is wanted for the purposes of dis- 
bursement. It is immaterial to the government whether it re- 
ceives back again the identical money put in, or other money of 
equal value. All that it wants is what it put in the bank, or its 
equivalent ; and that, in ordinary times, with such prudent banks 
as alone ought to be selected, it is sure of getting. Again : the 
treasury has frequently to make remittances to foreign countries, 
to meet the expenditure necessary there for our naval squadrons 
and other purposes. They are made to the bankers, to the Ba- 
rings or the Rothschilds, in the form of bills of exchange, pur- 
chased in the market by the agents of the government here, with 
money drawn out of the treasury. Here is one conversion of 
the money received from the tax-gatherer into the treasury. The 
bills are transmitted to the bankers, honored, paid, and the amount 
credited by them to the United States. Are the bankers bound 
to retain the proceeds of the bills in identity? Are they bound 
to do more than credit the government for an equal amount, for 
which they stand responsible whenever it is wanted ? If they 
should happen to use any portion of those very proceeds of bills 
remitted to them in their banking operations, would it be draw- 
ing money from the treasury, contrary to the provisions of the 
constitution 1 

The Senator from South Carolina contends that there is no 
constitutional power to contract with the twenty-five selected 
banks, as proposed in the substitute ; yet the deposite act of 1836, 
which obtained the hearty approbation of that Senator, contain- 
ed a similar provision ; and the very bill under consideration, so 
warmlv supported by him, provides, under certain contingencies, 



368. ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

for contracts to be made with state banks, to receive deposites of 
the public money upon compensation He objects to the substi 
tute, that it converts twenty-five state banics into a system of fed- 
eral institutions ; but the employment of state institutions by the 
federal authority no more makes them federal, than the employ- 
ment of federal institutions by tlie states converts them into state 
institutions. This mutual aid, and this reciprocal employment 
of the several institutions of the general and particular govern- 
ments, is one of the results and beauties of our admirable though 
complex system of government. The general government has 
the use of the capital, court-houses, prisons, and penitentiaries 
in the several states. Do they, therefore, cease to appertain U 
the states ? It is to be borne in mind that, although the statt 
banks may occasionally be used by the federal authority, thei' 
legal responsibility to the several states remains unimpaired.— 
They continue to be accountable to them, and their existence cai 
only be terminated or prolonged by the state authority. And be 
ing governed, as they are, by corporate authority, emanatinf 
from, and amenable to, state jurisdiction, and not under the con 
trol of the executive of the United States, constitutes at once t 
greater security for the public money, and more safety to th( 
public liberty. It has been argued that a separation of the gov- 
ernment from the banks will diminish the executive power. I 
must be admitted that the custody of the public money in various 
banks, subject to the control of state authority, furnishes somt 
check upon the possible abuses of the executive government. — 
But the argument maintains that the executive has least powei 
when it has most complete possession of the public treasury 
The Senator from South Carolina contends that the separation 
in question being once etfected, the relation of the federal gov- 
ernment and the state banks will be antagonistical. I believe 
eo, Mr. President. This is the very thing I wish to prevent. 1 
want them to live in peace, harmony and friendship. If they are 
antagonists, how is it possible that the state banks can maintain 
their existence against the tremendous influence of this govern- 
ment? Especially, if this government should be backed by such 
a vast treasury bank as I verily believe this bill is intended to 
create ? And what becomes of the argument urged by the Se- 
nator from South Carolina, and the abolition resolutions offered 
by him at an early period of the session, asserting that the gen 
eral government is bound to protect the domestic institutions ol 
the several states ? 

The substitute is not, I think, what the welfare of the country 
requires. It may serve tlie purpose of a good half-way house. 
Its accommodations appear fair, and, with the feelings of a wea- 
ried traveller, one may be tempted to stop awhile and refresh 
himself there. I shall vote for it as an amendment to the bill, 
because I believe it the least of two evils, if it should, indeed, in- 
flict any evil ; or rather, because I feel myself in the position of 
a patient to whom the physician presents in one hand a cup of 



ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 361 

arsenic, and in the other a cup of ptisan ; I reject the first, be- 
cause of the instant death with which it is charged ; I take the 
latter, as being, at the most, harmless, and depend upon the vit 
medicatrix natura. It would have been a great improvement, 
in my opinion, if the mode of bringing about the resumption of 
specie payments, contained in the substitute, were reversed : that 
is to say, if, instead of fixing on the first of July for resumption, 
it had provided that the notes of a certain number of safe, sound 
and unquestionable banks to be selected, should be forthwith re- 
ceived by the general government, in payment of all public dues ; 
and that if the selected banks did not resume, by a future desig- 
nated day, their notes should cease lo be taken. Several imme- 
diate effects would follow : 1st. The government would withdraw 
from the market as a competitor with the banks for specie, and 
tliey would be left undisturbed to strengthen themselves. And, 
2dly, confidence would be restored by taking off the discredit and 
discountenance thrown upon all banks by the government. And 
why should these notes not be so received ? They are as good 
as treasury notes, if not better. They answer all the purposes 
of the state governments and the people. They now would buy 
as much as specie could have commanded at the period of sus- 
pension. They could be disbursed by the government. And, 
finally, the measure would be temporary* 

But the true and only efficacious and permanent remedy, I 
solemnly believe, is to be found in a bank of the United States, 
properly organized and constituted. We are told that such a 
bank is fraught Avith indescribable danger, and that the govern- 
ment must, in the sequel, get possession of the bank, or the bank 
of the government. I oppose to these imaginary terrors the 
practical experience of forty years. I oppose to them the issue 
of the memorable contest, commenced by the late President of 
the United States, against the late bank of the United States. 
The administration of that bank had been without serious fault. 
It had given no just offence to the government, towards which 
it had faitlifuUy performed every financial duty. Under its able 
and enlightened President, it had fulfilled every anticipation 
which had been formed by those who created it; President 
Jaclcson pronounced the edict that it must fall, and it did fall, 
against the wishes of an immense majority of the people of the 
United States; against the convictions of its utility entertained 
by a large majority of the states ; and to the prejudice of the 
best interests of the whole country. If an innocent, unoffending 
and highly beneficial institution could be thus easily destroyed 
by the power of one man, where would be the difficulty of 
crushing it, if it had given any real cause for just animadver- 
eion? Finally, I oppose to these imaginary terrors the example 
deducible from English history. There a bank has existed 
eince the year 1694, and neither has the bank got possession of 
the government, nor the government of the bank. They have 
31 



862 ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 

existed in harmony together, both conducing to the prosperity 
of that great country; and they have so existed, and so con- 
tributed, because each has avoided cherishing towards the other 
that wanton and unnecessary spirit of hostility which was un- 
fortunately engendered in the bosom of the late President of 
the United States. 

I am admonished, sir, by my exhausted strength, and by, I 
fear, your more exhausted patience, to hasten to a close. Mr. 
President, a great, novel and untried measure is perseveringly 
urged upon the acceptance of Congress. That it is pregnant 
with tremendous consequences, for good or evil, is undeniable, 
and admitted by all. We firmly believe that it will be fatal to 
the best interests of this country, and ultimately subversive of its 
liberties. You, who have been greatly disappointed in other 
measures of equal promise, can only hope, in the doubtful and 
uncertain I'uture, that its operation may prove salutary. Since 
it was first proposed at the extra session, the whole people have 
not had an opportunity of passing in judgment upon it at their 
elections. As far as they have, they have expressed their un- 
qualified disapprobation. From Maine to the state of Missis- 
sippi, its condemnation has been loudly thundered forth. In 
every intervening election, the administration has been defeated, 
or its former majorities neutrahzed. Maine has spoken ; Nev/- 
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island, Mississippi 
and Michigan ; all these states, in tones and terms not to be 
misunderstood, have denounced the measure. The key-stone 
state (God bless her) has twice proclaimed her rejection of it, 
once at the polls, and once through her Legislature. Friends 
and foes of the administration have united in condemning it. 
And, ai the very moment when I am addressing you, a large 
meeting of the late supporters of the administration, headed by 
the disl;inguished gentleman who presided in the electoral col- 
lege which gave the vote of that patriotic state to President 
Van Buren, are assembling in Philadelphia, to protest solemnly 
against the passage of this bill. Is it right that, under such cir- 
cumstances, it should be forced upon a reluctant but free and 
intelligent people? Is it right that this Senate, constituted as it 
now is, should give its sanction to the measure'? I say it in no 
disrespectful or taunting sense, but we are entitled, according to 
the latest expressions of the popular will, and in virtue of mani- 
festations of opinion deliberately expressed by State Legisla- 
tures, to a vote of thirty-five against the bill; and I am ready to 
enter, with any Senator friendly to the administration, into de- 
tails to prove the assertion. Will the Senate, then, bring upon 
itself the odium of passing this bill ? I implore it to forbear, 
forbear, forbear ! I appeal to the instructed Senators. Is this 
government made lor us, or for the people and the states, whose 
agents we are? Are we not bound so to administer it as to 
advance their welfare, promote their prosperity, and give gene- 
ral satisfaction? Will that sacred trust be fulfilled, if the known 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 363 

sentiments of large and respectable communities are despised 
and condemned by those whom they have sent here? I call 
npon the honorable Senator from Alabama, (Mr. King,) with 
whom I have so long stood in the public councils, shoulder to 
shoulder, bearing up the honor and the glory of this great peo- 

f)le, to come now to their rescue. I call upon all the Senators ; 
et us bury, deep and forever, the character of the partizan, rise 
up patriots and statesmen, break the vile chains of party, throw 
the fragments to the winds, and feel the proud satisfaction that 
we have made but a small sacrifice to the paramount obligations 
which we owe our common country. 



ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

In Senate, Thursday, February 7, 1839. 

Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, rose to present a petition, and said : 
I have received, Mr. President, a petition to the Senate and 
House of Representatives of the United States, which I wish to 
present to the Senate. It is signed by several hundred inhabi- 
tants of the District of Columbia, and chiefly of the city of 
Washington. Among them I recognize the name of the highly 
esteemed mayor of the city, and other respectable names, some 
of v^'hich are personally and well known to me. They express 
their regret that the subject of the abolition of slavery within the 
District of Columbia continues to be pressed upon the considera- 
tion of Congress by inconsiderate and misguided individuals in 
other parts of the United States. They state that they do not 
desire the abolition of slavery within the district, even if Con- 
gress possess the very questionable power of abolishing it, with- 
out the consent of the people whose interests would be immedi- 
ately and directly affected by the measure ; that it is a question 
solely between the people of the district and their only constitu- 
tional legislature, purely municipal, and one in which no exte- 
rior influence or interest can justly interfere ; that, if at any 
future period the people of this district should desire the abolition 
of slavery within it, they will doubtless make their wishes known, 
when it will be time enough to take the matter into considera- 
tion; that they do not, on this occasion, present themselves to 
Congress because they are slave-holders — many of them are not; 
some of them are conscientiously opposed to slavery — but they 
appear because they justly respect the rights of those who own 
that description of property, and because they entertain a deep 
conviction that the continued agitation of the question by those 
who have no right to interfere with it, has an injurious influence 
on the peace and tranquility of the community, and upon the 
well-being and happiness of those who are held in subjection ; 



364 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

they finally protest as well against the unauthorized interven- 
tion of which they complain, as against any legislation on the 
part of Congress in compliance therewith. But, as I wieh 
these respectable petitioners to be themselves heard, I request 
that their petition may be read. [It was read accordingly, 
and Mr. Clay proceeded.] I am informed by the committee 
which requested me to offer this petition, and believe, that it 
expresses the almost unanimous sentiments of the people of 
the District of Columbia. 

The performance of this service affords me. said Mr. C, a 
legitimate opportunity, of which, with the permission of the 
Senate, I mean now to avail myself, to say something, not only 
on the particular objects of the petition, bat upon the great 
and interesting subject with which it is intimately associated. 

It is well known to the Senate, said Mr. Clay, that I have 
thought that the most judicious course with abolition petitions 
has not been of late pursued by Congress. I have believed 
that it would have been wisest to have received and referred 
them, without opposition, and to have reported against their 
object in a calm and dispassionate and argumentatative ap- 
peal to the good sense of the whole community. It has beea 
supposed, however, by a majority of Congress, that it was most 
expedient either not to receive the petitions at all, or, if formally 
received, not to act definitively upon them. There is no sub- 
stantial difference between these opposite opinions, since both 
look to an absolute rejection of the prayer of the petitioners. 
But there is a great difference in the form of proceeding ; and, 
Mr. President, some experience in the conduct of human affairs 
has taught me to believe that a neglect to observe estabhshed 
forms is often attended with more mischievous consequences 
than the infliction of a positive injury. We all know that, even 
in private life, a violation of the existing usages and ceremonies 
of society cannot take place without serious prejudice. I fear, 
sir, that the abolitionists have acquired a considerable apparent 
force by blending with the object which they have in view a 
collateral and totally different qu'?stion arising out of an al- 
ledged violation of the right of petition. I know full well, and 
take great pleasure in testifying, that nothing was remoter from 
the intention of the majority of the Senate, from which I differed, 
than to violate the right of petition in any case in which, accor- 
ding to its judgment, that right could be constitutionally exer- 
cised, or where the object of the petition could be safely or pro- 
perly granted. Still, it must be owned that the abolitionists have 
seized hold of the fact of the treatment which their petitions 
have received in Congress, and made injurious impressions 
upon the minds of a large portion of the community. This, I 
think, might have been avoided by the course wliich I should 
have been glad to have seen pursued. 

And I desire now, Mr. President, to advert to some of those 
topics which I think might have been usefully embodied in a re- 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 365 

port by a committee of the Senate, and which, I am persuaded, 
would have checked the progress, if it had not altogether arrest- 
ed the eiforts of abolition. I am sensible, sir, that this woik 
would have been accomplished with much greater ability and 
with much happier effect, under the auspices of a committee, 
than it can be by me. But, anxious as I always am to contri- 
bute whatever is in my power to the harmony, concord, and 
happiness of this great people, I feel myself irresistably impelled 
to do whatever is in my power, incompetent as I feel myself to 
be, to dissuade the public from continuing to agitate a subject 
fraught with the most direful consequences. 

There are three classes of persons opposed, or apparently op- 
posed, to the continued existence of slavery in the United States. 
The first are those who, from sentiments of philanthropy and 
humanity, are conscientiously opposed to the existence of slavery, 
but who are no less opposed, at the same time, to any disturb- 
ance of the peace and tranquillity of the Union, or the infringe- 
ment of the powers of the states composing the confederacy. 
In this class may be comprehended that peaceful and exemplary 
eociety of " Friends," one of whose established maxims is, an 
abhorrence of war in all its forms, and the cultivation of peace 
and good-will amongst mankind. The next class consists of ap- 
parent abolitionists — that is, those who, having been persuaded 
that the right of petition has been violated by Congress, co- 
operate witli the abohtionists for the sole purpose of asserting 
and vindicating that right. And the thircf class are the real 
ultra-abolitionis'ls, who are resolved to persevere in the pursuit 
of their object at all hazards, and without regard to any conse- 
quences, however calamitous they may be. With them the 
rights of property are nothing; the deficiency of the powers of 
the general government is nothing ; the acknowledged and in- 
contestible powers of the states are nothing ; civil war, a disso- 
lution of the Union, and the overthrow of a government in which 
are concentrated the fondest hopes of the civilized world, are 
nothing. A single idea has taken possession of their minds, and 
onward they pursue it, overlooking all barriers, reckless and re- 
gardless of all consequences. With this class, the immediate 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the terri- 
tory of Florida, the prohibition of the removal of slaves from 
state to state, and the refusal to admit any new state, comprising 
within its limits the institution of domestic slavery, are but so 
many means conducing to the accomplishment of the ultimate 
but perilous end at which they avowedly and boldly aim ; are 
but so many short stages in the long and bloody road to the 
distant goal at which they would finally arrive. Their purpose 
is abohtion, universal abolition, peaceably if it can, forcibly if 
it must. Their object is no longer concealed by tlie thinnest 
veil ; it is avowed and proclaimed. Utterly destitute of consti- 
tutional or other rightful power, living in totally distinct cora- 
31* 



366 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

nmnities, as alien to the communities in which the subject on 
which they would operate resides, so far as concerns political 
power over that subject, as if they lived in Africa or Asia, they 
nevertheless promulgate to the world their purpose to be to 
manumit forthwith, and without compensation, and without 
moral preparation, three millions of negro slaves, under jurisdic- 
tions altogether separated from those under which they live. I 
have said that immediate abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia and the territory of Florida, and the exclusion of new 
states, were only means towards the attainment of a much more 
important end. Unfortunately, they are not the only means. 
Another, and much more lamentable one is that which this class 
is endeavoring to employ, of arraying one portion against an- 
other portion of the Union. With that view, in all their leading 
prints and publications, the alledged horrors of slavery are de- 
picted in the most glowing and exaggerated colors, to excite the 
imaginations and stimulate the rage of the people in the free 
states against the people in the slave states. The slave-holder 
is held up and represented as the most atrocious of human beings. 
Advertisements of fugitive slaves and of slaves to be sold, are 
carefully collected and blazoned forth, to infuse a spirit of de- 
testation and hatred against one entire and the largest section 
of the Union. And like a notorious agitator upon another the- 
atre, they would hunt down and proscribe from the pale of civil- 
ized society the inhabitants of that entire section. Allow me, 
Mr. President, to eay, that whilst I recognize in the justly 
wounded feelings of the minister of the United States at the 
court of St. James, much to excuse the notice which he was 
provoked to take of tliat agitator, in my humble opinion, he 
would better have consulted the dignity of his station and of his 
country in treating him with contemptuous silence. He would 
exclude us from European society — he who himself can only ob- 
tain a contraband admission, and is received with scomrul re- 
pugnance into it ! If he be no more desirous of our society than 
we are of his, he may rest assured that a state of eternal non- 
intercourse will exist between us. Yes, sir, I think the American 
minister would have best pursued the dictates of true dignity by 
regarding the language of the member of the British House of 
Commons as the malignant ravings of the plunderer of hie 
own country, and the libeller of a foreign and kindred people. 

But tlie means to which I have already adverted, are not the 
only ones which this third class of ultra-abolitionists are employ- 
ing to effect their ultimate end. They began their operations 
by professing to employ only persuasive means in appealing to 
the humanity, and enlightening the understandings, ol' the slave- 
holding portion of tlie Union. If there were some kindness in 
this avowed motive, it must be acknowledged that there was 
rather a presumptuous display also of an assumed superiority in 
intelligence and knowledge. For some time they continued to 
make these appeals to our duty and our interest ; but impatient 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 367 

^th the slow influence of their logic upon our stupid minds, 
they recently resolved to change their system of action. To the 
agency of their powers of persuasion, they now propose to sub- 
stitute the powers of the ballot box ; and he must be blind to 
what is passing before us, who does not perceive that the inev- 
itable tendency of their proceedings is, if these should be found 
insufficient, to invoke, finally, the more potent powers of the 
bayonet. 

Mr. President, it is at this alarming stage of the proceedings 
of the ultra-abolitionists that I would seriously invite every con- 
s'derate man in the country solemnly to pause, and deliberately 
t > reflect, not merely on our existing posture, but upon that 
readful precipice down which they would hurry us. It is be- 
i^ause these ultra-abolitionists have ceased to employ the instru- 
ments of reason and persuasion, have made their cause political, 
and have appealed to the ballot box, that I am induced, upon 
this occasion to address you. 

There have been three epochs in the history of our country at 
which the spirit of abolition displayed itself The first was im- 
mediately after the formation of the present federal government. 
When the constitution was about going into operation, its 
powers were not well understood by the community at large, 
and remained to be accurately interpreted and defined. At that 
period numerous abolition societies were formed, comprising not 
merely the society of Friends, but many other good men. Pe- 
titions were presented to Congress, praying for the abolition of 
slavery. They were received without serious opposition, re- 
ferred, and reported upon by a committee. The report stated 
that the general government had no power to abolish slavery as 
it existed in the several states, and that these states themselves 
had exclusive jurisdiction over the subject. The report was 
generally acquiesced in, and satisfaction and tranquillity ensued ; 
the abolition societies thereafter limiting their exertions, in re- 
spect to the black population, to offices of humanity witliin the 
scope of existing laws. 

The next period when the subject of slavery, and abolition 
incidentally, was brought into notice and discussion, was that on 
the memorable occasion of the admission of the state of Missouri 
into the Union. The struggle was long, strenuous, and fearful. 
It is too recent to make it necessary to do more than merely ad- 
vert to it, and to say, that it was finally composed by one of 
those compromises characteristic of our institutions, and of which 
the constitution itself is the most signal instance. 

The third is that in which we now find ourselves. Various 
causes, Mr. President, have contributed to produce the existing 
excitement on the subject of abolition. The principal one per- 
haps, is the example of British emancipation of the slaves in the 
islands adjacent to our country. Such is the similarity in laws, 
in language, in institutions, and in common origin, between 
Great Britain and the United States, that no great measure of 



368 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

national policy can be adopted in the one country without pro- 
ducing a considerable degree of influence in the other. Con- 
founding the totally diflferent cases together, of the powers of 
the British parliament and those of the Congress of the United 
States, and the totally different situations of the British West 
India Islands, and the slaves in the sovereign and independent 
states of this confederacy, superficial men have inferred from the 
undecided British experiment the practicability of the abolition 
of slavery in these states. The powers of the British parliament 
are unlimited, and are often described to be omnipotent. The 
powers of the American Congress, on the contrary, are few, 
cautiously limited, scrupulously excluding all that are not grant- 
ed, and above all, carefully and absolutely excluding all power 
over the existence or continuance of slavery in the several states. 
The slaves, too, upon which British legislation operated, were 
not in the bosom of the kingdom, but in remote and feeble col- 
onies having no voice in parliament. The West India slave- 
holder was neither represented nor representative in that parlia- 
ment. And whilst I most fervently wish complete success to the 
British experiment of West India emancipation, I confess that I 
have fearful forebodings of a disastrous termination of it. What- 
ever it may be, I think it must be admitted that, if the British 
parliament had treated the West India slaves as freemen, it also 
treated the West India freemen as slaves. If, instead of these 
slaves being separated by a wide ocean from the parent country, 
tliree or four millions of African negro slaves had been dispersed 
over England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and their owners 
had been members of the British parliament — a case which 
would have presented some analogy to that of our own country 
— does any one believe that it would have been expedient or 
practicable to have emancipated them, leaving them to remain, 
with all their embittered feelings, in the United kingdom, bound- 
less as the powers of the British parliament are 7 

Other causes have conspired with the British example to pro- 
duce the existing excitement from abolition. I say it with pro- 
found regret, but with no intention to occasion irritation h-ere or 
elsewhere, that there are persons in both parts of the Union who 
have sought to mingle abolition with politics, and to array one 
portion of the Union against the other. It is the misfortune in 
free countries that, in high party times, a disposition too often 
prevails to seize hold of every thing which can strengthen the 
one side or weaken the other. Charges of fostering abolition 
designs have been heedlessly and unjustly made by one party •. 
against the other. Prior to the late election of the present Presi- 
dent of the United States, he was charged with being an aboli- 
tionist, and abolition designs Avere imputed to many of his sup- 
porters. Mucli as I was opposed to his election, and am to his 
administration, I neither shared in making nor believing the 
truth of the charge. He was scarcely installed in office before the 
same charge was directed against those who opposed his election. 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 369 

Mr. President, it is not true, and I rejoice that it is not true, 
that either of the two great parties in this country has any de- 
signs or aim at abolition. I should deeply lament if it were true. 
I should consider, if it were true, that the danger to the stability 
of our system would be infinitely greater than any which does, 
I hope, actually exist. Whilst neither party can be, I think, 
justly accused of any abolition tendency or purpose, both have 
profited, and both have been injured, in particular localities, by 
the accession or abstraction of abolition support. If the account 
were fairly stated, I believe the party to which I am opposed 
has profited much more, and been injured much less, than that 
to which I belong. But I am far, for that reason, from being 
disposed to accuse our adversaries of being abolitionists. 

And now, Mr. President, allow me to consider the several ca- 
ses in which the authority of Congress is invoked by these abo- 
lition petitioners upon the subject of domestic slavery. The first 
relates to it as it exists in the District of Columbia. The fol- 
lowing is the provision of the constitution of the United States 
in reference to that matter : 

"To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever 
over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may by 
cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, 
become the seat of government of the United States." 

This provision preceded, in point of time, the actual cessions 
which were made by the states of Maryland and Virginia. The 
object of the cesssion was to establish a seat of government 
of the United States; and the grant in the constitution of ex- 
clusive legislation must be understood, and should be always 
interpreted, as having relation to the object of the cession. It 
was with a full knowledge of this clause in the constitution that 
those two states ceded to the general government the ten miles 
square, constituting the District of Columbia. In making the 
cession, they supposed that it was to be applied, and applied 
solely, to the purposes of a seat of government, for which it was 
asked. When it was made, slavery existed in both those com- 
monwealths, and in the ceded territory, as it now continues to 
exist in all of them. Neither Maryland nor Virginia could have 
anticipated that, whilst the institution remained within their 
respective limits, its abolition would be attempted by Congress 
without their consent. Neither of them would probably have 
made an unconditional cession, if they could have anticipated 
such a result. 

From the nature of the provision in the constitution, and the 
avowed object of the acquisition of the territory, two duties 
arise on the part of Congress, The first is, to render the Dis- 
trict available, comfortable and convenient, as a seat of govern- 
ment of the whole Union; the other is, to govern the people 
within the district so as best to promote their happiness and 
prosperity. These objects are totally distinct in their nature, 
and, in interpreting and exercising the grant of the power of 



370 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

exclusive legislation, that distinction should be constantly borne 
in mind. Is it necessary, in order to render this place a com- 
fortable seat of the general government, to abolish slavery within 
its limits? No one can or will advance such a proposition. 
The government has remained here near forty years without 
the slightest inconvenience from the presence of domestic slave- 
ry. Is it necessary to the well being of the people of the Dis- 
trict that slavery should be abolished from amongst them? — 
They not orly neither ask nor desire, but are almost unani- 
mously oppoaed to it. It exists here in the mildest and most 
mitigated form. In a population of 39,834, there were, at the 
last enumeration of the population of the United States, but 
6,119 slaves. The number has not probably much increased 
since. They are dispersed over the ten miles square, engaged 
in the quiet pursuits of husbandry, or in menial offices in domes- 
tic life. If it were necessary to the efficiency of this place, as a 
seat of the general government, to abolish slavery, which is 
utterly denied, the abolition should be confined to the necessity 
which prompts it, that is, to the limits of the city of Washington 
itself Beyond those limits, persons concerned in the govern- 
ment of the United States have no more to do with the inhabit- 
ants of the District than they have with the inhabitants of the 
adjacent counties of Maryland and Virginia which lie beyond 
the District. 

To abolish slavery within the District of Columbia, whilst it 
remains in Virginia and Maryland, situated, as that District is, 
within the very heart of those states, would expose them to great 
practical inconvenience and annoyance. The District would 
become a place of refuge and escape lor fugitive slaves from 
the two states, and a place from which the spirit of discontent, 
insubordination and insurrection might be fostered and en- 
couraged in the two states. Suppose, as was at one time under 
consideration. Pennsylvania had granted ten miles square with- 
in its limits, for the purpose of a seat of the general govern- 
ment; could Congress, without a violation of good faith, have 
introduced and established slavery within the bosom of that 
commonwealth, in the ceded territory, after she had abolished it 
90 long ago as the year 1780? Yet the inconvenience to Penn- 
sylvania in the case supposed would have been much less than 
that to Virginia and Maryland in the case we were arguing. 

It was upon this view of the subject that the Senate, at its 
last session, solemnly declared that it would be a violation of 
implied faith, resulting from the transaction of the cession, to 
abolish slavery within the District of Columbia. And would 
it not be ? By implied faith is meant that, when a grant is made 
for one avowed and declared purpose, known to the parties, the 
grant should not be perverted to another purpose, unavowed and 
iindeclared, and injurious to the grantor. The grant, in the 
case we are considering, of the territory of Columbia, was for a 
$eai of government Whatever power is necessary to accom- 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 371 

plish that object, is carried along by the grant. But the aboli- 
tion of slavery is not necessary to the enjoyment of this site as 
a seat of the general government. The grant in the constitu- 
tion, of exclusive power of legislation over the District, waa 
made to ensure the exercise of an exclusive authority of the 
general government to render this place a safe and secure seat 
of government, and to promote the well being of the inhabitants 
of the District. The power granted ought to be interpreted and 
exercised solely to the end for which it was granted. The lan- 
guage of the grant was necessarily broad, comprehensive and 
exclusive, because all the exigencies which might arise to ren- 
der this a secure seat of the general government could not have 
been foreseen and provided for. The language may possi- 
bly be sufficiently comprehensive to include a power of abolition, 
but it would not at all thence follow that the power could be 
rightfully exercised. The case may be resembled to that of a 
plenipotentiary invested with a plenary power, but who, at the 
same time, has positive instructions from his government as to 
the kind of treaty which he is to negotiate and conclude. If he 
violates those instructions, and concludes a diflerent treaty, this 
government is not bound by it. And, if the foreign government 
is aware of the violation, it acts in bad faith. Or it may be 
illustrated by an example drawn from private life. I am an 
endorser for my friend on a note discounted in bank. He ap- 
plies to me to endorse another to renew it, which I do in blank. 
Now, this gives him power to make any other use of my note 
which he pleases. But if, instead of applying it to the intended 
purpose, he goes to a broker and sells it, thereby doubling my 
responsibility for him, he commits a breach of trust, and a vio- 
lation of the good faith implied in the whole transaction. 

But, Mr. President, if this reasoning were as erroneous as I 
believe it to be correct and conclusive, is the affair of the libera- 
tion of six thousand negro slaves in this District, disconnected 
with the three millions of slaves in the United States, of suffi- 
cient magnitude to agitate, distract and embitter this great con- 
federacy? 

The next case in which the petitioners ask the exercise of the 
power of Congress, relates to slavery in the territory of Florida. 

Florida is the extreme southern portion of the United States. 
It is bounded on all its land sides by slave states, and is several 
hundred miles from the nearest ^ree state. It almost extends 
within the tropics, and the nearest important island to it on the 
water side is Cuba, a slave island. This simple statement of its 
geographical position should of itself decide the question. — 
When, by the treaty of 1819 with Spain, it was ceded to the 
United States, slavery existed within it. By the terms of that 
treaty, the efi'ects and property' of the inhabitants are secured to 
them, and they are allowed to remove and take them away, if 
they think proper to do so, without limitation as to time. If it 
were expedient, therefore, to abolish slavery in it, it could not be 



372 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

done consistently with the treaty, without granting to the ancient 
inhabitants a reasonable time to remove their slaves. But further: 
By the compromise which took place on the passage of the act 
for the admission of Missouri into the Union, in the year 1820, it 
was agreed and understood that the line of 36 deg. 30 min. of 
north latitude should mark the boundary between the free states 
and the slave states to be created in the territories of the United 
States ceded by the treaty of Louisiana ; those situated south 
of it being slave states, and those north of it, free states. But 
Florida is south of that line, and consequently, according to the 
spirit of the understanding which prevailed at the period alluded 
to, should be a slave state. It may be true that the compromise 
does not in terms embrace Florida, and that it is not absolutely 
binding and obligatory ; but all candid and impartial men must 
agree that it ought not to be disregarded without the most 
weighty considerations, and that nothing could be more to be 
deprecated than to open anew the bleeding wounds which were 
happily bound up and healed by that compromise. Florida is 
tlie only remaining territory to be admitted into the Union with 
the institution of domestic slavery, while Wisconsin and Iowa 
are now nearly ripe for admission without it. 

The next instance in which the exercise of the power of Con- 
gress is solicited, is that of prohibiting what is denominated by 
tlie petitioners the slave trade between the states, or, as it is de- 
scribed in abolition petitions, the traffic in human beings between 
the states. This exercise of the power of Congress is claimed 
under that clause of the constitution Avliich invests it with au- 
thority to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among 
the several states, and with the Indian tribes. The power to 
regulate commerce among the several states, like other powers 
in the constitution, has hitherto remained dormant in respect to the 
interior trade by land between the states. It was a power granted 
like all the other powers of the general government, to secure 
peace and harmony among the states. Hitherto it has not been 
necessary to exercise it. AH the cases in which, during the pro- 
gress of time it may become expedient to exert the general au- 
thority to regulate commerce between the states, cannot be con- 
ceived. We may easily imagine, however, contingencies which, 
if they were to happen, might require the interposition of the 
common authority. If, for example, the state of Ohio were, by 
law, to prohibit any vessel entering the port of Cincinnati, from 
the port of Louisville, in Kentucky, if that case be not already 
provided for by the laws which regulate our coasting trade, it 
would be competent to the general government to annul the 
prohibition emanating from state autliority. Or, if the state of 
Kentucky were to prohibit the introduction, within its limits, of 
any articles of trade, the production of the industry of the in- 
habitants of the state of Ohio, the general government might, 
by its authority, supersede the state enactment. But I deny that 
^e general government has any authority, whatever, from the 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 373 

constitution, to a.bolish what is called the slave trade, or, ia 
other words, to prohibit the removal of slaves from one slave 
state to another slave state. 

The grant in the constitution is of a power of regulation, and 
not prohibition. It is conservative, not destructive. Regulation 
ex vi termini implies the continued existence or prosecution of 
the thing regulated. Prohibition implies total discontinuance 
or annihilation. The reguiation intended was designed to facil- 
itate and accommodate, not to obstruct and incommode the com- 
merce to be regulated. Can it be pretended that, under this 
power to regulate commerce among the states, Congress has 
the power to prohibit the transportation of live stock which, in 
countless numbers, are daily passing from the western and in- 
terior states to the southern, southwestern, and Atlantic states ? 
The moment the incontestible fact is admitted, that negro slaves 
are property, the law of moveable property irresistibly attaches 
.tself to them, and secures the right of carrying them from one 
to another state, where they are recognized as property, without 
any hindrance whatever from Congress. 

But, Mr. President, I will not detain the Senate longer on the 
Bubjects of slavery within the district and in Florida, and of the 
right of Congress to prohibit the removal of slaves from one 
state to another. These, as I have already intimated, with ultra 
abolitionists are but so many masked batteries, concealing the 
real and ultimate point of attack. That point of attack is the 
institution of domestic slavery as it exists in these states. It is 
to liberate three millions of slaves held in bondage within them. 
And now allow me, sir, to glance at the in.surmountable ob- 
stacles which lie in the way of the accomplishment of this end, 
and at some of the consequences Avhich would ensue if it were 
possible to attain it. 

The first impediment is the utter and absolute want of all 
power on the part of the general government to effect the pur- 
pose. The constitution of the United States creates a limited 
government, comprising comparitively few powers, and leaving 
the residuary mass of political power- in the possession of the 
several states. It is well known that the subject of slavery in- 
terposed one of the greatest difficulties in the formation of the 
constitution. It was happily compromised and adjusted in a 
spirit of harmony and patriotism. According to that compro- 
mise, no power whatever was granted to the general govern- 
ment in respect to domestic slavery, but that which relates to 
taxation and representation, and the power to restore fugitive 
slaves to their lawful owners. All other power in regard to the 
institution of slavery was retained exclusively by the states, to 
be exercised by them severally, according to their respective 
views of their own peculiar interest The constitution of the 
United States never could have been formed upon the principle 
of investing the general government witla authority to abolish 
32 



374 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

the institution at its pleasure. It never can be continued for a 
single day if the exercise of such a power be assumed or usurped. 

But it may be contended by these ultra-abolitionista that their 
object is not to stimulate the action of the general government, 
but to operate upon the states themselves in -which the institu- 
tion of domestic slavery exists. If that be their object, why are 
these abolition societies and movements all confined to the free 
states? Why are the slave states wantonly and cruelly assailed? 
Why do the abolition presses teem with publications tending to ex- 
cite hatred and animosity on the part of the inhabitants of the free 
states against those of ihe slave states ? Why is Congress peti- 
tioned? The free states have no more power or right to interfere 
with institutions in the slave states, confided to the exclusive juris- 
diction of those states, than they would have to interfere with in- 
stitutions existing in any foreign country. What would be 
thought of the formation of societies in Great Britain, the issue 
of numerous inflammatory publications, and the sending out of 
lecturers throughout the kingdom, denouncing and aiming at 
the destruction of any of the institutions of France ? Would 
they be regarded as proceedings warranted by good neighbor- 
hood ? Or what would be thought of the formation of societies 
in the slave states, the issuing of violent and inflammatory tracts, 
and the deputation of missionaries, pouring out impassioned de- 
nunciations against institutions under the exclusive control of the 
free states 1 Is their purpose to appeal to our understandings, 
and to actuate our humanity ? And do they expect to accom- 
plish that purpose by holding us up to the scorn, and contempt, 
and detestation of the people of the free states and the whole 
civilized world ? The slavery which exists amongst us is our 
affair, not theirs ; and they have no more just concern with it 
than they have with slavery as it exists througliout the Avorld. 
Why not leave it to us, as the common constitution of our 
country has left it, to be dealt with, under the guidance of Prov- 
idence, as best we may or can ? 

The next obstacle in the way of abolition arises out of the 
fact of the presence in the slave states of three millions of slaves. 
They are there, dispersed throughout the land, part and parcel 
of our population. They were brought into the country original- 
ly under the authority of the parent government whilst we were 
colonies, and their importation was continued in spite of all th(^ 
remonstrances of our ancestors. If the question were an original 
question, whether, there being no slaves within the country, we 
should introduce them, and incorporate them into our society, 
that would be a totally diiferent question. Few, if any, of the 
citizens of the United States would be found to fiwor their intro- 
duction. Ko man in it would oppose, upon that supposition, 
their admission with more determined resolution and conscien- 
tious repugnance than I should. But that is not the question. 
The slaves are here; no practical scheme for their removal or 
separation from U3 has been yet devised or proposed; and the 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 375 

true inquiry is. what is best to be done with them. In human 
affairs we are often constrained, by the force of circumstances 
and the actual state of things, to do what we would not do if 
that state of things did not exist. The slaves are here, and here 
must remain, in some condition ; and, I repeat, how are they to 
be best governed 1 AVhat is best to be done for their happiness 
and our own 1 In the slave states the alternative is, that the 
white man must govern the black, or the black govern the 
white. In several of those states, the number of the slaves is 
greater than that of the white population. An immediate aboli- 
tion of slavery in them, as these ultra abolitionists propose, 
would be followed by a desperate struggle for immediate ascen- 
dancy of the black race over the white race, or rather it would 
be followed by instantaneous collisions between the two races, 
which would break out into a civil war that would end in the ex- 
termination or subjugation of the one race or the other. In such 
an alternative, who can hesitate 7 Is it not better for both par- 
ties that the existing state of things should be preserved, instead 
of exposing them to the horrible strifes and contests which 
would inevitably attend an immediate abolition ? This is our 
true ground of defence for the continued existence of slavery in 
our country. It is that which our revolutionary ancestors as- 
sumed. It is that which, in my opinion, forms our justification 
in the eyes of all Christendom. 

A third impediment to immediate abolition is to be found in 
the immense amount of capital which is invested in slave pro- 
perty. The total number of slaves in the United States, accor- 
ding to the last enumeration of the population, Avas a little up- 
wards of two millions. Assuming their increase at a ratio, 
which it probably is, of five per cent, per annum, their present 
number would be three millions. The average value of slaves 
at this time is stated by persons well informed to be as high as 
five hundred dollars each. To be certainly within the mark, let 
us suppose that it is only four hundred dollars. The total value, 
then, by that estimate, of the slave property in the United States 
is twelve hundred millions of dollars. This property is diffused 
throughout all classes and conditions of society. It is owned by 
widows and orphans, by the aged and infirm, as well as the 
sound and vigorous. It is the subject of mortgages, deeds of 
trust, and family settlements. It has been made the basis of 
numerous debts contracted upon its faith, and is the sole rehance, 
in many instances, of creditors within and without the slave 
states, for the payment of the debts due to them. And now it is 
rashly proposed, by a single fiat of legislation, to annihilate this 
immense amount of property ! To annihilate it without indem- 
nity and without compensation to its owners! Does any con- 
siderate man believe it to be possible to effect such an object 
without convulsion, revolution, and bloodshed ? 

I know that there is a visionary dogma, which holds that ne- 
gro slaves cannot be the subject of property. I shall not dwell 



376 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

long on this speculative abstraction. That is property which 
the law declares to be property. Two hundred years of legisla- 
tion have sanctioned and sanctified negro slaves as property. 
Under all the forms of government which have existed upon this 
continent during that long space of time — under the British gov- 
ernment — under the colonial government — under all the state con- 
stitutions and governments — and under the Federal government 
itself — they have been deliberately and solemnly recognized as 
the legitimate subjects of property. To the wild speculations of 
theorists and innovators stands opposed the fact, that in an unin- 
terrupted period of two hundred years' duration, under every 
form of human legislation, and by all the departments of human 
government, African negro slaves have been held and respected, 
have descended and been transferred, as lawful and indisputable 
property. They were treated as property in the very British ex- 
ample which is so triumphantly appealed to as worthy of our imita- 
tion. Although the West India planters had no voice in the united 
parliament of the British Isles, an irresistible sense of justice ex- 
torted from that legislature the grant of twenty millions of pounds 
sterling to compensate the colonists for their loss of property. 

If, therefore, these ultra abolitionists are seriously determined 
to pursue their immediate scheme of abolition, they should at 
once set about raising a fund of twelve hundred millions of dol- 
lars, to indemnify the owners of slave property. And the taxes 
to raise that enormous amount can only be justly assessed upon 
themselves or upon the free states, if they can persuade them to 
assent to such an assessment; for it would be a mockery of all 
justice and an outrage against all equity to levy any portion of 
ihe tax upon the slave states to pay for their own unquestioned 
property. 

If the considerations to which I have already adverted are not 
sufficient to dissuade the abolitionists from further perseverance 
in tlieir designs, the interest of the very cause which they profess 
to espouse ought to check their career. Instead of advancing, 
by their efforts, that cause, they have thrown back for half a 
century the prospect of any species of emancipation of the 
African race, gradual or immediate in any of the states. They 
have done more ; they have increased the rigors of legislation 
against slaves inmost, if not all, of the slave states. Forty years 
ago the question was agitated in the state of Kentucky of a 
gradual emancipation of the slaves within its limits. By gradual 
emancipation, I mean that slow but safe and cavitious liberation 
of slaves which was first adopted in Pennsylvania at the instance 
of Dr. Franklin, in the year 1780, and according to which, the 
generation in being were to remain in slavery, but all their off- 
spring born after a .specified day were to be free at the age of 
twenty-eight, and, in the mean time, were to receive preparatory 
instruction to qualify them for the enjoyment of freedom. That 
was the species of emancipation which, at the epoch to which I 
allude, was discussed in Kentucky. No one was rash enough to 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 377 

propose to think of immediate abolition. No one was rash enough 
to think of throwing loose upon the community, ignorant and un- 
prepared, the untutored slaves of the state. Many thought, and 
I amongst them, that as each of the slave states had a right ex- 
clusively to judge for itself in respect to the institution of domes- 
tic slavery, the proportion of slaves comparetl with the white 
population in that state, at that time, was so inconsiderable that 
a system of gradual emancipation might have been safely 
adopted without any hazard to the security and interests of the 
commonwealth. And I still think that the question of such 
emancipation in the farming states is one whose solution depends 
upon the relative numbers of the two races in any given state. 
If I had been a citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, when 
Franklin's plan was adopted, I should have voted for it, because 
•by no possibility could the black race ever acquire the ascend- 
ancy in that state. But if I had been then, or were now, a citi- 
zen of any of the planting states — the southern or southwestern 
states — I should have opposed, and would continue to oppose, 
any scheme whatever of emancipation, gradual or immediate, 
because of the danger of an ultimate ascendancy of the black 
race, or of a civil contest which might terminate in the extinc- 
tion of one race or the other. 

The proposition in Kentucky for a gradual emancipation did 
not prevail, but it was sustained by a large and respectable mi- 
nority. That minority had increased and was increasing, until 
the abolitionists commenced their operations. The effect has 
been to dissipate all prospects whatever, for the present, of any 
scheme of gradual or other emancipation. The people of that 
state have become shocked and alarmed by these abolition move- 
ments, and the number who would now favor a system even of 
gradual emancipation is probably less than it was in the years 
1798-'9. At the session of the Legislature held in lS37-'8, the 
question of calhng a Convention was submitted to the considera- 
tion of the people by a law passed in conformity with the con- 
stitution of the state. Many motives existed for the passage of 
the law, and, among them, that of emancipation had its influ- 
ence. When the question was passed upon by the people at 
their last annual election, only about one-fourth of the whole 
voters of the state supported a call of a Convention. The ap- 
prehension of the danger of abolition was the leading considera- 
tion amongst the people for opposing the call. But for that, but 
for the agitation of the question of abolition in states whose popu- 
lation had no right, in the opinion of the people of Kentucky, 
to interfere in the matter, the vote for a Convention would have 
been much larger, if it had not been carried. I felt myself con- 
strained to take immediate, bold and decided ground against it. 

Prior to the agitation of this subject of abolition, there was a 
progressive melioration in the condition of slaves throughout all 
the slave states. In some of them, schools of instruction were 
32* 



378 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

opened by humane and religious persons. These are all now 
checked, and a spirit of insubordination having shown itself in 
some localities, traceable, it is believed, to abolition movements 
and exertions, the legislative authority has found it expedient to 
infuse fresh vigor into the police, and laws which regulate the 
conduct of the slaves. 

And now, Mr. President, if it were possible to overcome the 
insurmountable obstacles which lie in the way of immediate 
abolition, let us briefly contemplate some of the consequences 
which would inevitably ensue. One of these has been occa- 
sionally alluded to in the progress of these remarks. It' is the 
struggle which would instantaneously arise between the two 
races in most of the southern and south-western states. And 
what a dreadful struggle would it not be ! Embittered by all 
the recollections of the past, by the unconquerable prejudices 
which would prevail between the two races, and stimulated by 
all the hopes and fears of the future, it would be a contest in 
which the extermination of the blacks, or their ascendancy over 
the whites, would be the sole alternative. Prior to the conclu- 
sion, or during the progress of such a contest, vast numbers, 
probably, of the black race would migrate into the free states; 
and what effect would such a migration have upon the laboring 
classes in those states! 

Now the distribution of labor in the United States is geo- 
grajihical; the free laborers occupying one side of the line, and 
the slave laborers the other; each class pursuing its own avoca- 
tions almost altogether unmixed with the other. But, on the 
supposition of immediate abolition, the black class, migrating 
into the free states, would enter into competition with the white 
class, diminishing the wages of their labor, and augmenting the 
hardships of their condition. 

This is not all. The abolitionists strenuously oppose all sepa- 
ration of the two races. I confess to you, sir, that I have seen 
with regret, grief and astonishment, their resolute opposition to 
the project of^ colonization. No scheme was ever presented to 
the acceptance of man, which, whether it be entirely practicable 
or not, is characterized by more unmixed humanity and benevo- 
lence, than that of transporting, Avith their own consent, the free 
people of color in the United States to the land of their ances- 
tors. It has the powerful recommendation that whatever it does 
is good; and, if it effects nothing, it inflicts no one evil or mis- 
chief upon any portion of our society. There is no necessary 
hostility between the objects of colonization and abolition. Colo- 
nization deals only with the free man of color, and that with his 
own free voluntary consent. It has nothing to do with slavery. 
It disturbs no man's property, seeks to impair no power in the 
slave states, nor to attribute any to the general government. 
All its action and tall its ways and means are vohmtary, depend- 
ing upon the blessing of Providence, which hitherto has gra- 
ciously smiled upon it. And yet, beneficent and harmless as 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 379 

colonization is, no portion of the people of the United States de- 
nounces it with so much persevering zeal and such unmixed 
bitterness as do the abolitionists. 

They put themselves in direct opposition to any separation 
whatever between the two races. They would keep them for- 
ever pent up together within the same limits, perpetuating their 
animosities, and constantly endangering the peace of the com- 
munity. They proclaim, indeed, that color is nothing ; that the 
organic and characteristic differences between the two races 
ought to be entirely overlool<ed and disregarded. And, eleva- 
ting themselves to a sublime but impracticable philosophy, they 
would teach us to eradicate all the repugnances of our nature, 
and to take to our bosoms and our boards the black man as we 
do the white, on the same footing of equal social condition. Do 
they not perceive that in thus confounding all the distinctions 
which God himself has made, they arraign the wisdom and 
goodness of Providence itself? It has been his divine pleasure 
to make the black man black, and the white man white, and to 
distinguish them by other repulsive constitutional differences. 
It is not necessary for me to maintain, nor shall I endeavor to 
prove, that it was any part of his divine intention that the one 
race should be held in perpetual bondage by the other ; but this 
I will say, that those whom he has created different, and has 
declared, by their physical structure and color, ought to be kept 
asunder, should not be brought together by any process whatever 
of unnatural amalgamation. 

But if the dangers of the civil contest which 1 have supposed 
could be avoided, separation or amalgamation is the only peace- 
ful alternative, if it were possible to effectuate the project of 
abolition. The abolitionists oppose all colonization, and it irre- 
sistibly follows, whatever they may protest or declare, that they 
are in favor of amalgamation. And who are to bring about this 
amalgamation ? I have heard of none of these ultra abolition- 
ists furnishing in their own families or persons examples of in- 
termarriage. Who is to begin it? Is it their purpose not only 
to create a pinching competition between black labor and white 
labor, but do they intend also to contaminate the industrious and 
laboring classes of society at the north, by a revolting admixture 
of the black element? 

It is frequently asked, what is to become of the African race 
among us? Are they forever to remain in bondage? That 
question was asked more than half a century ago. It has been 
answered by fifty years of prosperity but little chequered from 
this cause. It will be repeated fifty or a hundred years hence. 
The true answer is, that the same Providence who has hitherto 
guided and governed us, and averted all serious evils from the 
existing relation between the two races, will guide and govern 
our posterity. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof Vv"e 
have hitherto, with that blessing, taken care of ourselves. Pos- 
terity will find the means of its own preservation and prosperity. 



380 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

It is only in the most direful event which can befal this people 
that this great interest, and all other of our greatest interests, 
would be put in jeopardy. Although in particular districts the 
black population is gaining upon the white, it only constitutes 
one-fifth of t!ie whole population of the United States. And, 
taking the aggregates of the two races, the European is con- 
stantly, though slowly, gaining upon the African portion. This 
fact is demonstrated by the periodical returns of our population. 
Let us cease, then, to indulge in gloomy forebodings about the 
impenetrable future. But, if we may attempt to lift the veil, 
and contemplate what lies beyond it, I, too, have ventured on 
a speculative theory, Avith which I will not now trouble you, but 
which has been published to the world. According to that, in 
the progress of time, some one hundred and fifty or two hundred 
years hence^ but few vestiges of the black race will remain 
among our posterity. 

Mr. President, at the period of the formation of our constitu- 
tion, and afterwards, our patriotic ancestors apprehended dan- 
ger to the Union from two causes. One was, the Alleghany 
mountains, dividing the waters which flow into the Atlantic 
ocean from those which found their outlet in theGidf of Mexico. 
They seemed to present a natural separation. That danger has 
vanished before the noble achievements of the spirit of internal 
improvement, and the immortal genius of Fulton. And now, 
no where is found a more loyal attachment to the Union than 
among those very western people, who, it was apprehended, 
would be the first to burst its ties. 

The other cause, domestic slavery, happily the sole remaining 
cause which is likely to disturb our harmony, continues to exist. 
It was this which created the greatest obstacle and the most anx- 
ious solicitude in the deliberations of the convention that adopted 
tlae general constitution. And it is this subject that has ever been 
regarded with the deepest anxiety by all Avho are sincerely desi- 
rous of the permanency of our Union. The father of his country, 
in his last affecting and solemn appeal to his fellow-citizens, de- 
precated, as a most calamitous event, the geographical divisions 
which it might produce. The convention wisely left to the sev- 
eral states the power over the institution of slavery, as a power 
not necessary to the plan of union which it devised, and as one 
with which the general government could not be invested with- 
out planting the seeds of certain destruction. There let it remain 
undisturbed by any unhallowed hand. 

Sir, I am not in the habit of speaking lightly of the possibihty 
of dissolving this happy Union. The Senate knows that I have 
deprecated allusions, on ordinary occasions, to that direful event. 
The country will testify that, if there be any thing in the history 
of my public career worthy of recollection, it is the truth and sin- 
cerity of my ardent devotion to its lasting preservation. But we 
should be false in our allegiance to it, if we did not discriminate 
between the imaginary and real dangers by which it may be as- 



ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 3&1 

sailed. Abolition should no longer be regarded as an imaginary 
danger. The abolitionists, let me suppose, succeed in their pre- 
sent aim of uniting the inhabitants of the free states as one man, 
against the inhabitants of the slave states. Union on the one 
side will beget union on the other. And this process of recipro- 
cal consolidation will be attended with all the violent prejudices, 
embittered passions, and implacable animosities which ever de- 
graded or deformed human nature. A virtual dissolution of the 
Union will have taken place, whilst the forms of its existence re- 
main. The most valuable element of union, mutual kindness, the 
feelings of sympathy, the fraternal bonds, which now happily 
unite us, will have been extinguished Ibrever. One section will 
stand in menacing and hostile array against the other. The col- 
lision of opinion will be quickly followed by the clash of arms. I 
will not attempt to describe scenes which now happily lie con- 
cealed from our view. Abolitionists themselves would shrink 
back in dismay and horror at the contemplation of desolated 
fields, conflagrated cities, murdered inhabitants, and the over- 
throw ol' the fairest fabric of human government that ever rose 
to animate the hopes of civilized man. Nor should these aboli- 
tionists flatter themselves that, if they can succeed in their object 
of uiiiting the people of the free states, they will enter the contest 
with a numerical superiority that must ensure victory. All his- 
tory and experience proves the hazard and uncertainty of war. 
And we are admonished by holy writ that the race is not to the 
swift, nor the battle to the strong. But if they were to conquer, 
whom would they conquer? A Ibreign foe — one who had insult- 
ed our flag, invaded our shores, and laid our country waste? 
No, sir; no, sir. It would be a conquest without laurels, without 
glory — a self, a suicidal conquest — a conquest of brothers over 
brothers, achieved by one over another portion of the descend- 
ants of common ancestors, who, nobly pledging their lives, their 
fortunes, and their sacred honor, had fought and bled, side by 
side, in many a hard battle on land and ocean, severed our coun- 
try from the British crown, and established our national indepen- 
dence. 

The inhabitants of the slave states are sometimes accused by 
their northern brethren with displaying too much rashness and 
sensibility to the operations and proceedings of abolitionists. 
But, before they can be rightly judged, there should be a rever- 
sal of conditions. Let me suppose that the people of the slave 
states were to form societies, subsidize presses, make large pe- 
cuniary contributions, send tbrth numerous missionaries through- 
out all their own borders, and enter into machinations to burn 
the beautiful capitals, destroy the productive manufactories, and 
sink in the ocean the gallant ships of the northern states. Would 
these incendiary proceedings be regarded as neighborly and 
friendly, and consistent with the fraternal sentiments which should 
ever be cherished by one portion "f the Union towards another? 
Y^Mi dv^ &x«ite no emotion? Occasion no manifestations of_ 



382 ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 

dissatisfaction, nor lead to any acts of retaliatory violence 1 But 
the supposed case falls far short of the actual one in a most es- 
sential circumstance. In no contingency could these capitals, 
manufactories, and ships rise in rebellion and massacre inhabi- 
tants of the northern states. 

I am, Mr. President, no friend of slavery. The searcher of all 
hearts knows that every pulsation of mine beats high and strong 
in the cause of civil liberty. Wherever it is safe and practica- 
ble, I desire to see every portion of the human family in the en- 
joyment of it. But I prefer the liberty of my own country to 
that of any other people ; and the liberty of my own race to that 
of any other race. The liberty of the descendants of Africa in 
the United States is incompatible with the safety and liberty of 
tlie European descendants. Their slavery forms an exception 
— an exception resulting from a stern and inexorable necessity — 
to the general liberty in the United States. We did not origi- 
nate, nor are we responsible for, this necessity. Tlieir liberty, 
if it were possible, could only be established by violating the in- 
contestable powers of the states, and subverting the Union. And 
beneath the ruins of the Union would be buried, sooner or later, 
the liberty of both races. 

But if one dark spot exists on our political horizon, is it not 
obscured by the bright and effulgent and cheering light that 
beams all around us ? Was ever a people before so blessed as 
we are, if true to ourselves ? Did ever any other nation contain 
within its bosom so many elements of prosperity, of greatness, 
and of glory? Our only real danger hes ahead, conspicuous, 
elevated, and visible. It was clearly discerned at the com- 
mencement, and distinctly seen throughout our whole career. — 
Shall we wantonly run upon it, and destroy all the glorious anti- 
cipations of the high destiny that awaits us ? I beseech the abo- 
litionists themselves solemnly to pause in their mad and fatal 
course. Amidst the infinite variety of objects of humanity and be- 
nevolence which invite the employment of their energies, let them 
select some one more harmless, that does not threaten to deluge 
our country in blood. I call upon that small portion of the cler- 
gy, which has lent itself to these wild and ruinous schemes, not 
to forget the holy nature of the divine mission of the Founder of 
our religion, and to profit by his peaceful examples. I entreat 
that portion of my countrywomen who have given their counte- 
nance to abolition, to remember that they are ever most loved 
and honored wlien moving in their own appropriate and delight- 
ful sphere ; and to reflect that the ink which they shed in subscri- 
bing with their fair hands abolition petitions, may prove but the 
prelude to the shedding of the blood of their brethren. I adjure 
all the inhabitants of the free states to rebuke and discounte- 
nance, by their opinion and their example, measures which must 
inevitably lead to the most calamitous consequences. And let 
Us all, as countrymen, as friends, and as brothers, cherish in un- 
fading memory the motto which bore our ancestors triumphantly 



I 



ON THE DISTRIBUTION, &c. 383 

through all the trials of the revolution, as, if adhered to, it will 
conduct their posterity through all that may, in the dispensations 
of Providence, be reserved for them. 



ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROCEEDS 
OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

Thursday, January 28, 1841. 

The Pre-emption Bill being under consideration, and the 
question being on Mr. Crittenden's motion to re-commit the bill 
with instructions to engraft on it an amendment for the distribu- 
tion of the proceeds of the public lands among the States — 

Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, rose and addressed the Senate sub- 
stantially as follows : 

With the measure of the distribution of the proceeds of the 
sales of the public lands among the states of the Union, I have 
been so associated for the last eight or ten years, that, although 
it had not been my original purpose to say one word in respect 
to that measure at the present session of Congress, the debate 
on my colleague's motion has taken such a wide range that my 
silence might be construed into indifference or an abandonment, 
on my part, of what I conscientiously believe to be one of the 
most important and beneficial measures ever submitted to the 
consideration of an American Congress. I did not intend to 
move in the matter at this session, because of the extraordinary 
state of parties and of public affairs. The party against which 
the peopleof the United States had recently pronounced decisive 
judgment, was still in power, and had majorities in both houses 
of Congress. It had been always opposed to the distribution 
bill. The new administration, to which a majority of the people 
of the United States had given its confidence, had not yet the 
possession of power, and, prior to the fourth of March next, can 
do nothing to fulfil the just expectations of the country. The 
Treasury is exhausted and in a wretched condition. I was aware 
that its state would be urged as a plausible plea against present 
distribution — urged even by a party, prominent members of which 
had heretofore protested against any reliance whatever on the 
public lands as a source of revenue. Now, although I do not 
admit the right of Congress to apply the proceeds of all the 
public lands, consistently with the terms of the deeds of cession 
t'rom Virginia and the other ceding states, to the purposes of ordi- 
nary revenue of government, yet Congress being in the habit 
of making such an application, I was willing to acquiesce in the 
continuation of the habit until, I hope at some early day, a suita- 
ble provision can be made for the exchequer out of some more 
appropriate and legitimate source than the public lands. 



384 OxN THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

The distribution proposed by my colleague can be made, and, 
if no other Senator does, I will propose to make it, to commence 
on the first day of January next, leaving the proceeds of the 
lands of the current year applicable to the uses of the treasury. 
This will avoid the financial objection, as I hoped, prior to that 
day, that some permanent and adequate provision will be made 
to supply government with the necessary revenue. I shall 
therefore, vote for the proposition with that qualification since 
it has been introduced, although I had not intended to move 
it myself at this session. 

I came to the present session of Congress under the hope that 
it would dedicate itself earnestly to the urgent and necessary 
work of such a repair of the shattered vessel of state as would 
put it in a condition to perform the glorious voyage which it will 
begin on the fourth of March next. I supposed, indeed, that all 
new and doubtful measures of policy would be avoided ; but 
persuaded myself that a spirit of manliness, of honor, and of 
patriotism would prompt those who yet linger in power and au- 
thority at least to provide the necessary ways and means to de- 
fray the expenses of government, in thehandsof their successors, 
during the present year, if not permanently. But I confess with 
pain that my worst fears are about to be reahzed. The adminis- 
tration not only perseveres in the errors which have lost it the 
public confidence, but refuses to allow its opponents to minister, in 
any way, to the sufferings of the community or the necessities of 
the government. Our constitution is defective, in allowing those 
to remain in authority three or four months after the people have 
pronounced judgment against them ; or rather the convention 
did not foresee the possibility of the existence of an administra- 
tion which would deliberately treat with neglect and contempt 
the manifest sentiments of their constituents. It did not imagine 
that an administration could be so formed as that, although 
cmarting under a terrible but merited defeat, it Avould, in the 
spirit of the ancient fable, doggedly hold on to power, refusing 
to use it, or to permit others to use it, for the benefit of the 
people. 

We have just had read to us a lecture from the honorable 
and highly respectable senator from New Hampshire, (Mr. 
Pierce,) which ought to have been exclusively addressed to his 
own friends. He tells us that we are wasting our time in party 
debate, and that a measure is always got up at ihe commence- 
ment of every session on which a general political battle is 
fought, to the exclusion of all important public business. There 
is some truth in the charge ; and, if it be wrong, who ought to be 
held responsible for it ? Clearly those to whom the administra- 
tion of the government has been entrusted, and who have ma- 
jorities in both houses of Congress. What has been the engross- 
ing subject of this session ? The permanent pre-emption bill. 
Who introduced it, and why was it introduced? Not my 
friends but the senator's. And it has been brought up when 



PROCEEDS OP THE PUBLIC LANDS. 385 

there is an operating pre-emption law in existence, which has a 
long time to run. After the debate had been greatly protracted, 
and after one administration Senator had notified the officers 
of the chamber that they might get their lamps in order, and 
another had declared that they were ready to encamp on the 
ground until the bill was passed, why has the debate been per- 
mitted to continue weeks longer, without explanation, and to the 
surprise of every one on this side of the Senate? Why has 
more than half the session been consumed with this single and 
unnecessary subject? I would ask that Senator, who assumes 
the right to lecture us all, why he concurred in pressing on the 
Senate this uncalled for measure ? Yes, sir, my worst fears are 
about to be realized. Nothing will be done for the country 
during this session. I did hope that, if the party in power would 
not, in some degree, atone for past misdeeds during the remnant 
of their power, they would at least give the new administration 
a fair trial, and forbear all denunciation or condemnation of it in 
advance. But has this been their equitable course? Before the 
new President had entered upon the duties of his office, gentle- 
men who have themselves contributed to bring the country to 
the brink of ruin, (they will pardon me for saying it, but the 
truth must be spoken,) these very gentlemen are decrying be- 
forehand those measures of the coming administration which 
are indispensable, and which they must know to be indispensa- 
ble, to restore the public happiness and prosperity! The honora- 
ble Senator in my eye, (Mr. Wright,) said, in so many words, 
that he meant to condemn this measure of distribution in ad- 
vance. 

[Mr. Wright shook his head.] 

1 have taken down the Senator's words, and have them here 
on my notes. 

[Mr. Wright. If the honorable Senator will permit me, I 
will tell him what I said. I said that the course of his friends 
had forced the consideration of this mensure on us in advance.} 

Forced it on them in advance ! How? Projects to squander 
the public domain are brought forward by friends of the ad- 
ministration, in the form of a graduation bill, by which fifty 
millions in value of a portion of it would have been suddenly 
annihilated: pre-emption bills, cessions to a few of the states 
of the whole within their limits. Under these circumstances, 
my colleague presents a conservative measure, and proposes, in 
lieu of one of these wasteful projects by way of amendment, an 
equitable distribution among all the states of the avails of the 
pubhc lands. With what propriety then can it be said that we, 
who are acting solely on the defensive, have forced the measure 
upon our opponents ? Let them withdraw their bill, and I will 
answer for it that my colleague will withdraw his amendment, and 
will not, at this session, press any measure of distribution. No, sir, 
no. The policy of gentlemen on the other side, the clearly defined 
33 



386 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

and distinctly marked policy, is, to condemn, in advance, those 
measures which their own sagacity enables them to perceive 
that the new administration, faithful to their own principles and 
to the best interests of the country, must bring forward to build 
up once more the public prosperity. How, otherwise, are we 
to account for opposition, from leading friends of the adminis- 
tration, to the imposition of duties on the merest luxuries in the 
world? It is absolutely necessary to increase the public reve- 
nue. That is incontestable. It can only be done by the impo- 
sition of duties on the protected articles, or on the free articles, 
including those of luxury; for no one, I believe, in the Senate, 
dreams of laying a direct tax. Well ; if duties were proposed 
on the protected articles, the proposition would instantly be de- 
nounced as reviving a high tarifi'. And when they are proposed 
on silks and wines. Senators on the other side raise their voices 
in opposition to duties on these articles of incontestable luxury. 
These, moreover, are objects of consumption chiefly with the 
rich, and they, of course, would pay the principal part of the 
duty. But the exemption of the poor from the burden does not 
commend the measure to the acceptance of the friends of this 
expiring administration. And yet they, sometimes, assume to 
be guardians of the interests of the poor. Guardians of the 
poor ! Their friendship was demonstrated at a former session 
by espousing a measure which was to have the tendency of re- 
ducing wages, and now they put themselves in opposition to a 
tax which would benefit the poor, and fall almost exclusively on 
the rich. 

I will not detain the Senate now by dwelling on the ruinous 
state of the trade with France, in silks and wines especially, as 
it is now carried on. But I cannot forbear observing, that we 
import from France and her dependencies thirty -three millions 
of dollars annually, whilst we export in return only about nine- 
teen millions, leaving a balance against us, in the whole trade, 
of fourteen miUions of dollars ; and, excluding the French de- 
pendencies, the balance against us in the direct trade, with 
France, is seventeen millions. Yet gentlemen say we must 
not touch this trade! We must not toucli a trade with such a 
heavy and ruinous balance against us — a balance, a large part, 
if not the whole, of which is paid in specie. I have been in- 
formed, and believe, that the greater part of the gold which was 
obtained from France under the treaty of indemnity, and which, 
during General .Jackson's administration, was with so much care 
and parade introduced into the United States, perhaps under 
the vain hope that it would remain here, in less than eighteen 
months was re-exported to France in the very boxes in which 
it was broutrht, to liquidate our commercial debt. Yet we must 
not supply the indispensable wants of the treasury by taxing any 
of the articles of this disadvantageous commerce ! And some gen- 
tlemen, assuming not merely the guardianship of the poor, but of 
the south also, (with about as much fidelity in the one case as in 



i 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 387 

the other,) object to the imposition of duties upon these luxuries, 
because they might atiect somewhat tlie trade with France in a 
southern staple. But duties upon any Ibreign imports may afiect, 
in some small degree, our exports. If the objection, therefore, 
be sustained, we must forbear to lay any imposts, and rely, 
as some gentlemen are understood to desire, on direct taxes. 
But to this neither the country nor Congress will ever consent. 
We have hitherto resorted mainly, and I have no doubt always 
will resort, to our foreign imports for revenue. And can any 
objects be selected with more propriety than those which enter 
so largely into the consumption of the opulent? It is of more 
consequence to the community, in the consideration of duties, 
who consumes the articles charged with them, and consequently, 
who pays them, tiian how the dutied articles are purchased 
abroad. The south is the last place from which an objection 
should come on the score of disproportionate consumption. I 
venture to as.sert that there is more champaign wine consumed 
in the Astor House, in the city of New-York, in one year, than in 
any state south of the Potomac. [A laugh.] Our total amount of 
imports last year was $104,000,000. Deducting the free articles, 
the amount of goods subject to duty was probably not more than 
between fifty and sixty millions. Now, if we are to adhere to 
the compromise of the tariff, which it is my wish to be able to 
do, but concerning which I have remarked lately a portentous 
silence on the part of some of its professing friends on the other 
side, it will be recollected that the maximum of any duty to be 
imposed is twenty per cent, after Jnne, 1842. It would not be 
safe to assume our imports in future of articles that would re- 
main for consumption, and not be re-exported, higher than one 
hundred millions, twenty per cent, on which would yield a gross 
revenue annually of twenty millions. But I think that we ou^ht 
not to estimate our imports at more than ninety millions; lor, 
besides other causes that must tend to diminish them, some ten 
or twelve millions of our exports will be applied annually to the 
payment of interest or principal of our state debts held abroad, 
and will not return in the form of imports. Twenty per cent 
upon ninety millions would yield a gross revenue of eighteen 
miUions only. Thus it is manifest that there must be additional 
duties. And I think it quite certain that the amount of necessary 
revenue cannot be raised without going up to the limit of the 
compromise upon all articles whatever which, by its terms, are 
liable to duty. And these additional duties ought to be laid 
now, forthwith, clearly before the close of the session. The 
revenue is now deficient, compelling the administration to resort 
to the questionable and dangerous use of treasury notes. Of 
this deficient revenue, there will go off five millions during the 
next session of Congress, according to the estimate of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, two and a half millions on the 31st De- 
cember, 1841, and two and a half millions more on the 30th 
June, 1842. This reduction takes place under that provision of 



388 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

the compromise act by which one-half the excess of all duties be- 
yond twenty per cent, is repealed on the last day of this year and 
the other moiety of that excess on the last day of June, 1842. Now, 
if Congress does not provide for this great deficiency in the reve- 
nue prior to the close of the present session, how is it possible 
to provide for it in season at the session which begins on the 
first Monday in December next? No great change in the cus- 
toms ought to be made without reasonable notice to the mer- 
chant, to enable him to adapt his operations to the change. How 
is it possible to give this notice, if nothing is done until the next 
regular meeting of Congress? Waiving all notice to the mer- 
chant, and adverting merely to the habits of Congress, is it not 
manifest that no revenue bill can be passed by the last day of 
December, at a session commencing on the first Monday of that 
month? How, then, can gentlemen who have, at least, the 
temporary possession of the government, reconcile it to duty 
and to patriotism to go home and leave it in this condition? I 
heard the Senator from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Buchanan,) at the 
last session, express himself in favor of a duty on wines and 
silks. Why is he now silent? Has he, too, changed his opin- 
ion? 

[Mr. Buchanan. I have changed none of my opinions on the 
subject.] 

I am glad, most happy, to hear it. Then the Senator ought 
to unite with us in the imposition of duties sufficient to produce 
an adequate revenue. Yet his friends denounce, in advance, the 
idea of imposing duties on articles of luxury ! They denounce 
distribution ! They denounce an extra session, after creating an 
absolute necessity for it ! They denounce all measures to give 
us a sound currency but the Sub-Treasury, denounced by the 
people ! They denounce the 'ad ministration of President Harri- 
son before it has commenced ! Parting from the power of which 
the people have stript them with regret and reluctance, and look- 
ing all around them with suUenness, they refuse to his adminis- 
tration that fair trial which the laws allow to every arraigned 
culprit. I hope that gentlemen will reconsider this course, and 
that, out of deference to the choice of the people, if not from feel 
ings of justice and propriety, they will forbear to condemn be- 
fore they have heard President Harrison's administration. If 
gentlemen are for peace and harmony, we are prepared to meet 
them in a spirit of peace and harmony, to unite with them in 
healing the wounds and building up the prosperity of the coun- 
try. But if they are for war, as it seems they are, I say, " Lay 
on, Macduff." 

[Sensation, and a general murmuring sound throughout the 
chamber and galleries.] 

One argument of the honorable Senator who has just taken 
his seat, (Mr. Wright) I wish to detach from the residue of his 
speech, that I may, at once, put it to sleep forever. With all hia 
well known ability, and without meaning to be disreaoec.tfni r 



PROCEEDS OB^ THE PUBLIC LANDS. 389 

may add, with all his characteristic ingenuity and subtlety, he 
has urged that if you distribute the proceeds of the pubhc lands, 
you arrogate to yourselves the power of taxing the people to 
raise money for distribution among the states ; that there is no 
difference between revenue proceeding from the public lands and 
revenue Irom the customs ; and that there is nothing in the con- 
stitution which allows you to lay duties on imports for the pur- 
pose of making up a deficiency produced by distributing the pro- 
ceeds of the pubhc lands. 

I deny the position, utterly deny it, and I will refute it from the 
express language of the constitution. From the first, I have been 
of those who protested against the existence of any power in this 
government to tax the people lor the purpose of a subsequent 
distribution of the money among the states. I still protest against 
it. There exists no such power. We invoke the aid of no such 
power in maintenance of the principle of distribution, applied to 
the proceeds of the sales of the public domain. But if such a 
power clearly existed, there would not be the slightest ground 
for the apprehension of its exercise. The imposition of taxes is 
always an unpleasant, sometimes a painful duty. What govern- 
ment will ever voluntarily incur the odium and consent to lay 
taxes, and become a tax gatherer, not to have the satisfaction of 
expending the money itself, but to distribute it among otlier gov- 
ernments, to be expended by them 2 But to the constitution. — 
Let us see Avhethcr the taxing power and the land power are. as 
the argument of the Senator assumes, identical and the same. 
What is the language of the constituti-on 1 " The Congress shall 
have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, 
to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general 
welfare of the United States ; but all duties, imposts and excises 
shall be uniform throughout the United States." Here is ample 
power to impose taxes ; but the object ibr which the money is to 
be raised is specified. There is no authority whatever conveyed 
to raise money by taxation, ibr the purpose of subsequent distri- 
bution among the states, unless the phrase " general welfare " 
includes such a power. The doctrine, once held by a party up- 
on whose principles the Senator and his friends now act, in rela- 
tion to the Executive Department, that those phrases included a 
grant of power, has been long since exploded and abandoned. 
They are now, by common consent, understood to indicate a pur- 
pose and not to vest a power. The clause of the constitution, 
fairly construed and understood, means that the taxing power is 
to be exerted to raise money to enable Congress to pay the debts 
and provide for the common defence and general welfare. And 
it is to provide lor the general wellare, in any exigency, by a fair 
exercise of the powers granted in the constitution. The Repub- 
lican party of 179S, in whose school I was brought up, and to 
whose rules of interpreting the constitution I have ever adhered, 
maintained that this was a bmited government j that it had no 
33* 



3G0 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

powers but granted powers, or powers necessary and proper to 
carry into effect the granted powers ; and that, in any given in- 
stance of the exercise of power, it was necessary to show the 
specific grant of it, or that the proposed measure was necessary 
and proper to carry into effect a specifically granted power or 
powers. 

There is then, I repeat, no power or authority in the general 
government to lay and collect taxes in order to distribute tlie pro- 
ceeds among the states. Such a financial project, if any admin- 
istration were mad enough to adopt it, would be a flagrant usur- 
pation. But how stands the case as to the land power? There 
is not in the whole constitution a single line or word that indi- 
cates an intention that the proceeds of the public lands should 
come into the public treasury to be used as a portion of the re- 
venue of the government. On the contrary, the unlimited grant 
of power to raise revenue in all the forms of taxation, would seem 
to manifest that that was to be the source of supply, and not the 
public lands. But the grant of power to Congress over the pub- 
lic lands in the constitution is ample and comprehensive. " The 
Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property 
belonging tc the United States." This is a broad, unlimited, 
and plenary power, subject to no restriction other than a sound, 
practical, and statesmanlike discretion, to be exercised by Con- 
gress. It applies to all the territory and property of the United 
States, whether acquired by treaty with foreign powers, or by 
cessions of particular states, or however obtained. It cannot be 
denied that the right to dispose of the territory and property of 
the United States, inclitdes a right to dispose of the proceeds of 
their territory and property, and consequently a right to distrib- 
ute those proceeds among the states. If the general clause in 
the constitution allows and authorizes, as I think it clearly does, 
distribution among the several states, I will hereafter show that 
the Conditions on which the states ceded to the United States can 
only now receive their just and equitable fulfilment by distribu- 
tion. 

The Senator from New-York argued that if the power con- 
tended for, to dispose of the territory and property of the United 
States, or their proceeds, existed, it woidd embrace the national 
ships, public buildings, magazines, dock-yards, and whatever 
else belonged to the government. And so it would. There is 
not a doubt of it ; but when will Congress ever perpetrate such a 
folly as to distribute this national property? It annually distrib- 
utes arms, according to a fixed rule, among the states, with great 
propriety. Are they not property belonging to the United States? 
To whose authority is the use of them assigned? To that of 
the States. And we may safely conclude that Avhcn it is expe- 
dient to distribute. Congress will make distribution, and when it 
is best to retain any national property, under the common au- 
thority, it will remain subject to it. I challenge the Sena*"** or 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 391 

any other person, to show any limitation on the power of Con- 
gress to dispose of tlie territory or property of the United States 
or their proceeds, but that which may be found in the terms of 
the deeds of cession, or in a sound and just discretion. Come 
on; who can show it? Has it not been shown that the taxing 
power, by a specification of the objects for which it is to be exer- 
cised, excludes all idea of raising money for the purpose of dis- 
tribution? And that the land power places distribution on a to- 
tally different footing 1 That no part of the proceeds of the 
public domain compose necessarily, or perhaps properly, a por- 
tion of the public revenue? What is the language of the con- 
stitution ? That to pay the debts, provide for the common de- 
fence and general weliare of the United States, you may take 
the proceeds of the public lands ? No, no. It says, for these 
ends, in other words, for the conduct of the government of the 
Union, you shall have power, unlimited as to amount and objects, 
to lay taxes. That is what it says ; and if you go to the consti- 
tution, this is iu answer. You have no right to go for power 
anywhere else. 

Hereafter, I shall endeavor further to show that, by adopting 
the distribution principle, you do not exercise or affect the taxing 
power ; that you will be setting no dangerous precedent, as is 
alledged ; and that you will, in fact, only pay an honest debt to 
the states, too long withheld from them, and of which some of 
them now stand in the greatest need. 

In the opposition to distribution, we find associated together 
the friends of pre-emption, the friends of graduation, and the 
friends of a cession of the whole of the public lands to a few of 
the states. Instead of reproaching us with a want of constitu- 
tional power to make an equitable and just distribution of the 
proceeds of the sales of the public lands among all the states, 
they would do well to point to the constitutional authority or to 
the page ni the code of justice by which their projects are to be 
maintained. But it is not my purpose now to dwell on these 
matters. My present object is with the argument of the senator 
from New-York, and his friends, founded on financial considera- 
tions. 

All at once these gentlemen seem to be deeply interested in 
the revenue derivable from the public lands. Listen to them 
now, and you would suppose that heretofore they had always 
been, and herea,fter would continue to be, decidedly and warm- 
ly in favor of carefully husbanding the public domain, and 
obtaining from it the greatest practicable amount of revenue,for 
the exclusive use of the general government. You would 
imagine that none of them had ever espoused or sanctioned any 
scheme for wasting or squandering the public lands ; that they 
regarded them as a sacred and inviolable fund, to be preserved 
for the benefit of posterity as well as this generation. 

It is my intention now to unmask these gentlemen, and to 
show that their real system for the administration of the public 



392 ON THE DISTRIBUTIOJN OF THE 

lands embraces no object of revenue, either in the general gov- 
ernment or the states ; that their purpose is otherwise to dispose 
of them ; that the fever for revenue is an intermittent, which ap- 
pears only when a bill to distribute the proceeds equally among 
all the states is pending ; and that, as soon as that bill is got rid 
of, gentlemen relapse into their old projects of throwing away 
the public lands, and denouncing all objects of revenue from the 
pubhc lands as unwise, illiberal, and unjust towards the new 
states. I will make all this good by the most incontrovertible 
testimony. I will go to the very highest authority in the dom- 
inant party during the last twelve years, and from that I will 
come down to the honorable senator from New- York and other 
members of the party. (I should not say come down; it is cer- 
tainly not descending Irom the late President of the United 
States to approach the senator from New-York. If intellect is 
the standard by which to measure elevation, he would certainly 
stand far above the measure of the Hermitage.) I will show, 
by the most authentic documents, that the opponents of distribu- 
tion, upon the principle now so urgently pressed, of rev'cnue, are 
no bona fide friends of revenue from ttie public lands. I am 
afraid I shall weary the Senate, but I entreat it to bear pa- 
tiently with me whilst I retrace the history of this measure of 
distribution. 

You well recollect, sir, that some nine or ten years ago the 
subject of the public lands, by one of the most singular associa- 
tions that was ever witnessed, was referred to the committee on 
manufactures, by one of the strangest parliamentary manoeuvres 
that was ever practised, for no other purpose than to embarrass 
the individual who now has the honor to address you, and who 
happened at that time to be a member of that committee. It 
was in vain that I protested against the reference, showed the 
total incongruity between the manufactures of the country and the 
public lands, and entreated gentlemen to spare us, and to spare 
themselves the reproaches which such a forced and unnatural 
connexion would bring upon them. It was all to no purpose _; 
the subject was thrown upon the committee on manufactures, in 
other words, it was thrown upon me ; for it was well known 
that although among my colleagues of the committee there might 
be those who were my superiors m other respects, -owing to my 
local position, it was supposed that I possessed a more familiar 
knowledge with the public lands than any of them, when, in 
truth, mine was not considerable. There was another more 
weighty motive with the majority of the Senate for devolving the 
business on me. The zeal, and, perhaps, too great partiality 
of my friends had, about that time, presented my name for a 
high office. And it was supposed that no measure, for perma- 
nently settling the question of the public lands, could emanate 
from me that would not affect injuriously my popularity either 
with the new or tlic old states, or with both. 1 felt the embar- 
rassment of the position in which I was placed ; but I resolved 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 393 

not to sink under it. I pulled off my coat, and went hard to 
work. I manufactured the measure for distributing equitably, 
in just proportions, the proceeds of the public lands among the 
several states. When reported from the committee, its reception 
in the Senate, in Congress, and in the country, was triumphant. 
I had every reason to be satisfied with the result of my labors, 
and my political opponents had abundant cause for bitter regrets 
at their indiscretion in wantonly throwing the subject on me. 
The bill passed the Senate, but was not acted upon in the 
house at that session. At the succeeding session it passed both 
houses. In spite of all those party connexions, which are, per- 
haps, the strongest ties that bind the human race, Jackson men, 
breaking loose from party thraldom, united with anti-Jackson 
men, and voted the bill by overwhelming majorities in both 
houses. If it had been returned by the President, it would have 
passed both houses by constitutional majorities, his veto notwith- 
standing. But it was a measure suggested, although not volun- 
tarily, by an individual who shared no part in the President's 
counsels or his affections ; and although he had himself, in his 
annual message, recommended a similar measure, he did not 
hesitate to change his ground in order to thwart my views. He 
knew, as I have always believed and have understood, that if he 
returned the bill, as by the constitution he was bound to do, it 
would become a law, by the sanction of the requisite majorities 
in the two houses. He resolved, therefore, upon an arbitrary 
course, and to defeat, by an irregular and unprecedented pro- 
ceeding, what he could not prevent by reason and the legitimate 
action of the constitution. He resolved not to return the bill, 
and did not return it to Congress, but pocketed it ! 

I proceed now to the documentary proof which I promised. 
In his annual message of December 4, 1832, President Jackson 
says : 

'• Previous to the formation of our present constitution, it was 
recommended by Congress that a portion of the waste lands 
owned by the states should be ceded to the United States for the 
purposes of general harmony, and as a fund to meet the expenses 
of the war. The recommendation was adopted, and, at different 
periods of time, the states of Massachusetts, New-York, Vir- 
ginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, granted their 
vacant soil for ihe uses for which they had been asked. As the 
lands may now be considered as reheved from this pledge, the 
object for which they were ceded having been accomplished, it 
is in the discretion of Congress to dispose of them in such way 
as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general interest 
of the American people," &c. "It seems to me to be our true 
policy that the public lands shall cease, as soon as practicable, 
to be a source of revenue," &c. 

Thus, in December, 1832, President Jackson was of opinion, 
first, that the public lands- were released from the pledge of them 
to the expenses of the revolutionary war. Secondly, that it wa» 



B9i ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

in the power of Congress to dispose of them according to its dis- 
cretion, in such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, 
and general interest of the American people. And, thirdly, that 
the public lands should cease as soon as practicable to be a 
source of revenue. 

So far from concurring in the argumerrt, now insisted upon by 
his friends, for the sole purpose of defeating distribution, that the 
public lands should be regarded and cherished as a source of re- 
venue, he was clearly of opinion that they should altogether 
cease to be considered as a source of revenue. 

The measure of distribution was reported by me from the 
committee on manufactures, in April, 1S32, and what was done 
witli it? The same majority of the Senate which had bo 
strangely discovered a congeniality between American manu- 
factures and the public lands, instead of acting on the report, 
resolved to refer it to the committee on public lands, of which the 
senator from Alabama (Mr. King) was chairman ; thus exhib- 
iting the curious parliamentary anomaly of referring the report 
of one standing connuittee to another standing committee. 

The chairman on the 18th May made a report from which 
many pertinent extracts might be made, but I shall content my- 
self with one : 

" This committee turn with confidence from the land offices to 
the custom-houses, and say, here are the true sources of Federal 
revenue ! Give lands to the cultivator ! And tell him to keep 
his money and lay it out in their cultivation !" 

Now, Mr. President, bear in mind that this report made by 
the senator from Alabama embodies the sentiments of his party; 
that the measure of distribution which came from the committee 
on manufactures exhibited one system for the administration of 
the public lands, and that it was referred to the committee on 
public lands, to enable that committee to make an argumenta- 
tive report against it, and to present their system — a counter or 
antagonist system. Well, this counter-system is exhibited, and 
what is it? Does it propose to retain and husband the public 
lands as a source of revenue? Do we hear any thing from that 
committee about the wants of the exchequer, and the expediency 
of economizing and preserving the public lands to supply them? 
No such thing. No such recommendation. On the contrary, 
we are deliberately told to avert our eyes from the land officeSj 
and to fix them exclusivel}' on the custom-houses as the true 
sources of federal revenue ! Give away the public lands Avas the 
doctrine of that report. Give it to the cultivator and tell him to 
keep his money ! And the party of the senator from New York, 
from that day to this, have adhered to that doctrine, except af 
occasional short periods, when the revenue fit has come upon 
them, and they have found it convenient, in order to defeat dis- 
tribution, to profess great solicitude for the interests of the re- 
venue. 

Some of them, indeed, are too frank to make any such pro 



PROCEEDS OP THE PUBLIC LANDS. 395 

fession. I should be glad to know from the senator from Ala- 
bama if he adheres to the sentiments of his report of 1832, and 
still thinks that the custom-houses and not the land offices are 
the true sources of federal revenue. 

[Mr. King here nodded assent.] 

I expected it. This re-avowal is honorable to the candor and 
independence of the senator. He does not go, then, with the 
revenue arguers. He does not go with the senator from New 
York, who speaks strongly in favor of the revenue from the pub- 
lic lands, and votes for every proposition to throw away the 
public lands. 

During the whole progress of the bill of distribution through 
the Senate, as far as their sentiments were to be inferred from 
their votes, or Avere to be known by the positive declarations of 
eome of them, the party dominant then and now acted in confor- 
mity with the doctrines contained in the report of their organ, 
(Mr. King.) Nevertheless the bill passed both houses of Congress 
by decisive majorities. 

Smothered, as already stated, by President Jackson, he did 
not return it to the Senate until the fourth December, 1833. 
With it came his memorable veto message — one of the most 
singular omnibusses that Avas ever beheld — a strange vehicle 
that seemed to challenge wonder and admiration on account of 
the multitude of hands evidently employed in its construction, 
the impress of some of them smeared and soiled as if they were 
fresh from the kitchen. Hear how President Jackson lays down 
the law in this message : 

" On the Avhole, I adhere to the opinion expressed by me in 
my annual message of 1832, that it is our true policy that the 
public lands shall cease, as soon as practicable, to be a source 
of revenue, except for the payment of those general charges 
which grow out of the acquisition of the lands, their survey and 
sale." " I do not doubt that it is the real interest of each and 
all the states in the Union, and particularly of the new states, 
that the price of these lands shall be reduced and graduated; and 
that after they have been offered for a certain number of years, 
the refuse, remaining unsold, shall be abandoned to the states, 
and the machinery of our land system entirely withdrawn." 

These are the conclusions of the head of that party which has 
been dominant in this country for twelve years past. I say 
twelve, for the last four have been but as a codicil to the will, 
evincing a mere continuation oi" the same policy, purposes, and 
designs with that which preceded it. During that long and 
dismal period, we all know, too well that the commands of no 
major-general were ever executed with more implicit obedience 
than were the orders of President Jackson, or, if you please, the 
public policy as indicated by him. Now, in this message, he re- 
peats that the public lands should cease to be a source of re- 
venue, with a slight limitation as to the reimbursement of the 
charges of their administration; and adds that their price should 



396 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

be reduced and graduated, and what he terms the refuse lana 
should be ceded to the states within which it is situated. By 
the by, these reluse lands, according to statements which I have 
recently seen from the land office, have been the source of 
nearly one half— upwards of forty millions of dollars — of all the 
receipts from the public lands, and that, too, principally since the 
date of that veto message ! 

It is perfectly manifest that the consideration of revenue, now 
eo earnestly pressed upon us by the friends of General Jackson, 
was no object with him in the administration of the public lands, 
and that it was his policy, by reduction of the price, by gradua- 
tion, by pre-emptions, and by ultimate cessions, to get rid of 
them as soon as practicable. We have seen that the committee 
on the public lands and his party coincided with him. Of this, 
further testimony is furnished in the debates, in the early part 
of the year 1833, which took place on the distribution bill. 

Mr. Kane, of Illinois, (a prominent administration Senator,) 
in that debate said : 

"Should any further excuse be demanded for renewing again 
this discussion, I refer to the message ol' the President of the 
United States at the commencement of the present session, 
which, upon a comprehensive view of the general substantial 
interests of the confederacy, has, for the first time on the part 
of any Executive Magistrate of this country, declared: 'It seems 
to me (says the President) to be our true 'policy that the public 
lands shall cease as soon as practicable to be a soJirce of reve- 
mce, and that they should be sold to settlers in limited parcels, at 
a price barely sufficient to reimburse the United States the 
expense of the present system, and the cost arising under our 
Indian treaties,' " &c. 

Mr. Buckncr, (an administration Senator from Missouri,) also 
refers to the same message of President Jackson with approba- 
tion and commendation. 

His colleague, (Mr. Benton,) in alluding, on that occasion, to 
the same message, says : " The President was right. His views 
were wise, patriotic and statesmanlike." "He had made it clear, 
as he hoped and believed, that the President's plan was right — 
that all idea of profit from the lands ought to be given up," &c. 

I might multiply these proofs, but there is no necessity for it 
Why go back eight or nine years ? We need only trust to our 
own ears, and rely upon what we almost now daily hear. Sena- 
tors from the new states frequently express their determination 
to wrest from this government the whole of thfe public lands, 
denounce its alledged iUiberality, and point exultingly to the 
strength which the next census is to bring to their policy. It 
was but the other day we heard the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. 
Sevier) express some of these sentiments. What were we told 
by that Senator? "We will have the public lands. We must 
have them, and we will take them in a few years.'* 

[Mr. Sevier. So we will.] 



PROCEEDS OP THE PUBLIC LANDS. 397 

Hear him ! Hear him ! He repeats it. Utters it in the ears 
of the revenue-pleading Senator (Mr. Wright) on my left. And 
yet he will vote against distribution. 

I will come now to a document of more recent origin. Her© 
it is — the work nominally of the Senator from Michigan, (Mr. 
Norvell,) but I take it, from the internal evidence it bears, to be 
the production of the Senator from South Carolina, over the 
way, (Mr. Calhoun.) This report, in favor of cession, proposes 
to cede, to the states within which the public lands are situated, 
one-third, retaining, nominally, two-thirds to the Union. Now, 
if this precedent of cession be once established, it is manifest 
that it will be applied to all new states as they are hereafter 
successively admitted into the Union. We begin with ceding one- 
third ; we shall end in granting the whole. 

[Mr. Calhoun asked Mr. Clay to read the portions of the 
report to which he alluded.] 

I should be very glad to accommodate the Senator, but I 
ehould have to read the whole of his report, and I am too much 
indisposed and exhausted for that. But I will read one or two 
paragraphs : 

" It belongs to the nature of things that the old and new states 
ehould take different views, have different feelings, and favor a 
different course of policy in reference to the lands within their 
limits. It is natural for the one to regard them chiefly aa a 
source of revenue, and to estimate them according to the amount 
of income annually derived from them ; while the other as natu- 
rally regards them, almost exclusively, as a portion of their do- 
main, and as the foundation of their population, wealth, power 
and importance. They have more emphatically the feelings of 
ownership, accompanied by the impression that they ought to 
have the principal control, and the greater share of benefits de- 
rived from them." "To sum up the whole in a few words: — 
"Of all subjects of legislation, land is that which more emphati- 
cally requires a local superintendence and administration ; and, 
therefore, ought pre-eminently to belong, under our system, to 
state legislation, to which this bill proposes to subject it exclu- 
sively in the new states, as it has always been in the old." 

It must be acknowledged that the new states will find some 
good reading in this report. What is the reasoning? That it 
is natural for the old states to regard the public lands as a source 
of revenue, and as natural for the new states to take a different 
view of the matter ; ergo, let us give the lands to the new states, 
making them, of course, cease any longer to be a source of 
revenue. It is discovered, too, that land is a subject which em- 

fihatically requires a local superintendence and administration, 
t therefore proposes to subject it exclusively to the new states, 
as (according to the assertion of the report) it always has been 
in the old. The public lands of the United States, theoretically, 
have been eubiect to the joint authority of the two classes of 



398 OxN THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

states, in Congress assembled, but, practically, have been more 
under the control of the members from the new states than those 
from the old. I do not think that the history of tlie administra- 
tion of public domain in this country sustains the assertior? that 
the states have exhibited more competency and wisdom for the 
management of it than the general government. 

I stated that I would come down (I should have said go up) 
from the late President of the United States to the Senator from 
New-York. Let us see what sort of notions he had on this mat- 
ter of revenue from the public lands, when acting in his cliarac- 
ter of chairman of the committee of finance, during tliis very 
session, on another bill. There has been, as you are aware, sir, 
before the Senate, at times, during the last twelve or fifteen 
years, a proposition for the reduction of the price of the public 
lands, under the imposing guise of "graduation." A bill, ac- 
cording to custom, has been introduced during the present ses- 
sion for that object. To give it eclat, and as a matter of form 
and dignity, it was referred to the c-ommittee of finance, of which 
the honorable Senator from New- York is the distinguished chair- 
man ; the same gentleman who, for these two days, has been 
defending these lands from waste and spoliation, according to 
the scheme of distributing their proceeds, in order to preserve 
them as a fruitful source of revenue for the general government. 
Here was a fine occasion tor the display of the financial abilities 
of the Senator. He and his friends had exhausted the most 
ample treasures that any administration ever succeeded to. — 
They were about retiring from office, leaving the public coiiers 
perfectly empty. Gentlemanly conduct towards their successors, 
to say nothing of the duties of office or of patriotism, required 
of them to do all in their power — to pick up and gather together, 
whenever they could, any means, liowever scattered or little the 
bits might be — to supply the urgent wants of the treasury. At 
all events, if the financial skill of the honorable Senator was 
incompetent to suggest any plan for augmenting the public reve- 
nue, he was, under actual circumstances, bound, bj'' every con- 
sideration of honor and of duty, to refrain from espousing or 
sanctioning any measure that would diminish the national in- 
come. 

Well ; what did the honorable Senator do with the gradua- 
tion bill? — a bill which, I assert, with a .^•ingle stroke of the pen, 
by a short process, consummated in April, 1842, annihilates fifty 
millions of dollars of the avails of th(^ public lands ! What did 
the Senator do with this bill, which takes oif fifty cents from the 
very moderate price of one dollar and a quarter per acre, at 
which the public lands are now sold? The bill was in the hands 
of the able chairman of the committee of finance some time. 
He examined it, no doubt, carefully, deliberated upon it atten- 
tively and anxiously. What report did he make upon it? If 
uninformed upon the subject, Mr. President, after witnessing, 
during these two days, the patriotic solicitude of the Senator in 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 399 

respect to the revenue derivable from the public lands, you 
would surely conclude that he had made a decisive if not indig- 
nant report against the wanton waste of the public lands by the 
graduation bill. I am sorry to say that he made no such report. 
Neither did he make an elaborate report to prove that, by taking 
off fifty cents per acre on one hundred millions of acres, reducing 
two-fifths of their entire value, the revenue would be increased. 
Oh no ; that was a work he was not prepared to commit even to 
his logic. He did not attempt to prove that. But what did he 
do? Why, simply presented a verbal compendious report, re- 
commending that the bill do pass ! [A general laugh.] And 
yet that Senator can rise here — in the light of day — in the face 
of this Senate — in the face of his country, and in the presence 
of his God — and argue for retaining and liusbanding the public 
lands, to raise revenue from tiiem ! 

But let us follow these revenue gentlemen a little further. By 
one of the strangest phenomena in legislation and logic that was 
ever witnessed, these very Senators who are so utterly opposed 
to the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among all 
the states, because it is distribution, are themselves for all other 
sorts of distribution — for ces.sions, for pre-emptions, for grants to 
the new states to aid them in education and improvement, and 
even for distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among 
particular states. They are for distribution in all conceivable 
forms and shapes, so long as the lands are to be gotten rid of, to 
particular persons or particular states. But when an equal, gen- 
eral, broad, and just distribution is proposed, embracing all the 
states, they are electrified and horror-struck. You may distrib- 
ute — and distribute among states, too — as long as you please, 
and as much as you please, but not among all the States. 

And here, sir, allow me to examine more minutely the project 
of cession, brought forward as the rival of the plan of distribu- 
tion. 

There are upwards of one billion of acres of public land be- 
longing to the United States, situated within and without the 
limits of the states and territories, stretching from the Atlantic 
ocean and the gulf of Mexico to the Pacific ; they have been ce- 
ded by seven of the old thirteen states to the United States, or 
acquired by treaties with foreign powers. The Senator from 
South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) proposes by his bill to cede one 
hundred and sixty million acres of this land to the nine states 
wherein they lie, granting to those states 35 per cent., and re- 
serving to the United States 85 per cent, of the proceeds of those 
lands. 

Now what I wish to say, in the first place, is, that, if you com- 
mence by applying the principle of cession to the nine land states 
now in the Union, you must extend it to other new states, as they 
shall be, hereafter, from time to time, admitted into the Union, 
until the whole public land is exhausted. You will have to make 
similar cessions to Wisconsin, to Iowa, to Florida, (in two states, 



400 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE . 

perhaps, at least in one,) and so to every new state as it shall be 
organized and received? How could you refuse? When other 
states to the north and to the west of Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, 
and Wisconsin, to the very shores of the Pacific, shall be admit- 
ted into the confederacy, will you not be bound by all the prin- 
ciples of equality and justice to make to them respectively simi- 
lar cessions of the public land, situated within their limits, to 
those which you will liave made to the nine states ? Thus your 
present grant, although extending nominally to but 160,000,000 
acres, virtually, and by inevitable consequence, embraces the 
whole of the public domain. And you bestow a gratuity of 35 
per cent, of the proceeds of this vast national property upon a 
portion of the states, to the exclusion and to the prejudice of the 
revolutionary states, by whose valor a large part of it was 
achieved. 

Will the Senator state whence he derives the power to do this? 
Will he pretend that it is to cover the expenses and charges 
of managing and administering the public lands? On much tlie 
greater part, nearly the whole, of the 160 millions of acres, the 
Indian title has been extinguished, and they have been surveyed. 
Nothing but a trifling expense is to be incurred oneither of those 
objects ; and nothing remains but to sell the land. I understand 
that the total expense of sale and collection is only about two 
per cent. Why, what are the charges ? There is one per cent, 
allowed by law to the receivers, and the salaries of the registers 
and receivers in each land district, with some other inconsidera- 
ble incidental charges. Put all together, and they will not amount 
to three per cent on the aggregate of sales. Thus the Senator 
is prepared to part from the title and control of the whole pubhc 
domain upon these terms ! To give thirty-five per cent, to cover 
an expenditure not exceeding three ! Where does he get a power 
to make this cession to particular states, which woujd not autho- 
rise distribution among all the states ? And when he has found 
the power, will he tell me why, in virtue of it, and in the same 
spirit of wasteful extravagance or boundless generosity, he may 
not give to the new states, instead of thirty-five per cent, fifty, 
eighty, or a hundred ? Surrender at once the whole public do- 
main to the new states ? The percentage, proposed to be allow- 
ed, seems to be founded on no just basis, the result of no official 
data or calculation, but fixed by mere arbitrary discretion. I 
should be exceedingly amused to see the Senator from South 
Carolina rising in his place, and maintaining before the Senate 
an authority in Congress to cede the public lands to particular 
states, on the terms proposed, and at the same time denying its 
power to distribute the proceeds equally and equitably among all 
the states. 

Now, in the second place, although there is a nominal reserva- 
tion of sixty-five per cent, of the proceeds to the United States, 
in the sequel, I venture to predict, we should part with the 
whole. You vest in the nine states the title. They are to sell 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 401 

the land and grant titles to the purchasers. Now what security 
have you for the faithful collection and payment into the com- 
mon treasury of the reserved sixty-five per cent. ? In what me- 
dium would the payment be made? Can there be a doubt 
that there would be delinquency, collisions, ultimate surrender 
of the whole debt? It is proposed, indeed, to retain a sort of 
mortgage upon the lands, in the possession of purchasers from 
tlie state, to secure the payment to the United States of their 
sixty-five per cent. But how could you enforce such a mort- 
gage? Could you expel from their homes some, perhaps 
100,000 settlers, understate authority, because the state, possibly 
without any fault of theirs, had neglected to pay over to the 
United States the sixty-five per cent.? The remedy of expulsion 
would be far worse than the relinquishment of the debt, and you 
would relinquish it. 

There is no novelty in this idea of cession to the new statee. 
The form of it is somewhat varied, by the proposal of the sena- 
tor to divide the proceeds between the new states and the United 
States, but it is still substantially the same thing — a present 
cession of thirty-five per cent., and an villimate cession of the 
whole ! When the subject of the public lands was before the 
committee on manufactures, it considered the scheme of cession 
among the other various projects then afloat. The report made 
in April, 1832, presents the views entertained by the committee 
on that topic ; and, although I am not in the habit of quoting 
from my own productions, I trust the Senate will excuse me on 
this occasion for availing myself of what was then said, as it will 
at least enable me to economize my breath and strength. I ask 
6ome friend to read the following passages: [which were accor- 
dingly read by another senator.] 

" Whether the question of a transfer of the public lands be 
considered in a limited or more extensive view of it which has 
been stated, it is one of the highest importance, and demanding 
the most deliberate consideration. From the statements, founded 
on offleial reports, made in the preceding part of this report, it 
has been seen that the quantity of unsold and unappropriated 
lands lying within the limits ot the new states and territories is 
340,871,753 acres, and the quantity beyond those limits is 
750,000,000, presenting an aggregate of 1,090,871,753 acres. It 
is difficult to conceive a question of greater magnitude than that 
of relinquishing this immense amount of national property. 
Estimating its value according to the minimum price, it presents 
the enormous sum of $1,363,589,691. If it be said that a large 
portion of it will never command that price, it is to be observed 
on the other hand, that, as fresh lands are brought into market 
and exposed to sale at public auction, many of them sell at 
prices exceeding one dollar and a quarter per acre. Supposing 
the public lands to be worth, on the average, one half of the 
minimum price, they would still present the immense sum of 
34* 



402 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

$681,794,845. The least favorable view which can be taken of 
them is, that of considering them a capital yielding, at present, 
an income of three milhons of dollars annually. Assuming the 
ordinary rate of si.x per cent, interest per annum as the standard 
to ascertain the amount of that capital, it would be fifty millions 
of dollars. But this income has been progressively increasing. 
The average increase during the six last years has been at the 
rate of twenty-three per cent, per annum. Supposing it to con- 
tinue in the same ratio, at the end of a little more than four 
years the income would be double, and make the capital 
$100,000,000. Whilst the population of the United States in- 
creases only three per cent, per annum, the increase of the de- 
mand for the public lands is at the rate of twenty-three per cent, 
furnishing another evidence that the progress of emigration and 
the activity of sales have not been checked by the price demand- 
ed by government. 

'• In whatever light, therefore, this great subject is viewed, the 
transfer of the public lands from the whole people of the United 
States, for whose benefit they are now held, to the people in- 
habiting the new states, must be regarded as the most moment- 
ous measure ever presented to the consideration of Congress. 
If such a measure could find any justification, it must arise out. 
of some radical and incurable defect in the construction of the 
general government properly to administer the public domain. 
But the existence of any such delect is contradicted by the most 
successful experience. No branch of the public service has 
evinced more system, vmiformify and wisdom, or given more 
general satisfaction, than that of the administration of the public 
lands. 

"If the proposed cession to the new states were to be made 
at a fair price, such as the general government could obtain from 
individual purchasers under the present system, there would be 
no motive lor it, unless the new states are more competent to 
dispose of the public lands than the common government. They 
are now sold under one uniform plan, regulated and controlled 
by a single legislative authority, and the practical operation is 
perfectly understood. If they were transferred to the new states, 
the subsequent disposition would be according to laws emana- 
ting from various legislative sources. Competition would proba- 
bly arise between the new states in the terms which they would 
ofler to purchasers. Each state would be desirous of inviting 
the greatest number of emigrants, not only for the laudable 
purpose of populating rapidly its own territories, but with the 
view to the acquisition of funds to enable it to fulfil its engage- 
ments with the general government. Collisions between the 
states would probably arise, and their injurious consequences 
may be imagined. A spirit of hazardous speculation would be 
engendered. Various schemes in the new states would be put 
afloat to sell or divide the public lands. Companies and combi- 
nations would be formed in this country, if not in foreign coun- 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 403 

trieg, presenting gigantic and tempting, but delusive projects; 
and the history of legislation, in some of the states of the Union, 
admonishes us that a too ready ear is sometimes given by a 
majority, in a legislative assembly, to such projects. 

"A decisive objection to such a transfer, for a fair equivalent, 
is, that it would establish a new and dangerous relation between 
the general government and the new states. In abolishing the 
credit which had been allowed to purchasers of the public lands 
prior to the year 1820, Congress was principally governed by 
(he consideration of the expediency and hazard of accumulating 
a large amount of debt in the new states, ail bordering on each 
other. Such an accumulation was deemed unwise and unsafe. 
It presented a new bond of interest, of sympathy, and of union, 
partially operating to the possible prejudice of the common bond 
of the whole Union. But that debt was a debt due from indi- 
viduals, and it was attended with this encouraging security, that 
purchasers, as they successively completed the payments for 
(heir lands, would naturally be disposed to aid the government 
in enforcing payment from delinquents. The project which the 
committee are now considering is, to sell to tlie states, in their 
sovereign character, and, consequently, to render them public 
debtors to the general government to an immense amount. This 
would inevitably create between the debtor states a common 
feeling and a common interest, distinct from the rest of the 
Union. These states are all in the western and south-western 
quarter of the Union, remotest from the centre of federal power. 
The debt would be felt as a load from which they would con- 
stantly be desirous to relieve themselves; and it would operate 
as a strong temptation, weakening, if not dangerous, to the ex- 
isting confederacy. The committee have the most animating 
hopes and the greatest confidence in the strength, and power, 
and durability of our happy Union; and the attachment and 
warm aflection of every member of the confederacy cannot be 
doubted; but Ave have authority, higher than human, for the 
instruction that it is wise to avoid all temptation. 

" In the state of Illinois, with a population at the last census 
of 157,445, there are 31,395,669 acres of public land, including 
that part on which the Indian title remains to be extinguished. 
If we suppose it to be worth only half the minimum price, it 
would amount to $19,622,480. How would that state be able to 
pay such an enormous debt? How could it pay even the annual 
mterest upon it ? 

Supposing the debtor states to fail to comply with their en- 
gagements, in what mode could they be enforced by the general 
government? In treaties between independent nations, the ulti- 
mate remedy is well known. The apprehension of an appeal to 
that remedy, seconding the sense of justice and the regard for 
character which prevail among Christian and civilized nations, 
constitutes, generally, adequate security for the performance of 
national compacts. But this last remedy would be totally inad- 



404 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

missible in case of a delinquency on the part of the debtor etates. 
The relations between the general government and the members 
■of the confederacy are happily those of peace, friendship and 
fraternity, and exclude all idea of force and war. Could the 
judiciary coerce the debtor states ? On what could their process 
operate? Could the property of innocent citizens, residing with- 
in the limits of those states, be justly seized by the general gov- 
ernment, and held responsible for debts contracted by the states 
themselves in their sovereign character? If a mortgage upon 
the lands ceded were retained, that mortgage would prevent or 
retard subsequent sales by the states; and if individuals bought, 
subject to the encumbrance, a parental government could never 
resort to the painful measure of disturbing them in their posses- 
sions. 

"Delinquency, on the part of the debtor states, would be in- 
evitable, and there would be no effectual remedy for the delin- 
quency. They would come again and again to Congress, 
soliciting time and indulgence, until, finding the weight of the 
debt intolerable, Congress, wearied by reiterated applications for 
relief, would finally resolve to spunge the debt; or, if Congrese 
attempted to enforce its payment, another and a worse alterna- 
tive Avould be embraced. 

"If the proposed cession be made for a price merely nominal, 
it would be contrary to the express conditions of the original 
cessions from primitive states to Congress, and contrary to the 
obligations Avhich the general government stands under to the 
whole people of these United States, arising out of the fact that 
the acquisitions of Louisiana and Florida, and from Georgia, 
were obtained at a great expense, borne from the common 
treasure, and incurred for the common benefit. Such a gratui- 
tous cession could not be made without a positive violation of a 
solemn trust, and without manifest injustice to the old states. 
And its inequality among the new states would be as marked 
as its injustice to the old would be indefensible. Thus Missouri, 
with a population of 140,455, would acquire 38,292,151 acres; 
and the state of Ohio, with a population of 935,884, would obtain 
only 5,586,834 acres. Supposing a division of the land among 
the citizens of those two states i-espectively; the citizen of Ohio 
would obtain less than six acres for his share, and the citizen 
of Missouri upwards of two hundred and seventy-two acres as 
his proportion. 

" Upon full and thorough consideration, the committee have 
come to the conclusion that it is inexpedient either to reduce the 
price of the public lands, or to cede them to the new states. — 
They believe, on the contrary, that sound policy coincides with 
the duty which has devolved on the general government to the 
whole of the states, and the whole of the people of the Union, 
and enjoins the preservation of the existing system, as having 
been tried and approved, after long and triumphant experience. 
But, in consequence of the extraordinary financial prosperity 



PROCEEDS OP THE PUBLIC LANDS. 405 

which the United States enjoys, the question merits examination 
whether, whilst the ^neral government steadily retains the con- 
trol of this great national resource in its own hands, after the 
payment of the public debt, the proceeds of the sales of the 
public lands no longer needed to meet the ordinary expenses of 
government, may not be beneficially appropriated to some other 
objects for a limited time." 

The Senator from New-Yorlc has adverted, for another pur- 
pose, to the twenty-eight millions of surplus divided a few years 
ago among the states. He has said truly that it arose from the 
public lands. Was not that, in effect, distribution ? Was it not 
so understood at the time? Was it not voted for, by Senators, as 

R radical distribution? The Senator from North Carolina (Mr. 
langum) has stated that he did. I did. Odier Senators did ; 
and no one, not tlie boldest, will have the temerity to rise here 
B,nd propose to require or compel the states to refund that money. 
If, in form, it was a deposite with the states, in fact and in truth 
it was distribution. So it was then regarded. So it will ever 
remain. 

Let us now see, Mr. President, how this plan of cession will ope- 
rate among the new states themselves. And I appeal more espe- 
cially to the Senators from Ohio. That state has about a mil- 
lion and a half of inhabitants. The United States have (as will 
probably be shown Avhen the returns are published of the late 
census*) a population of about fifteen millions. Ohio, then, has 
within her limits one tenth part of the population of the United 
States. Now, let us see what sort of a bargain the proposed 
cession makes for Ohio. 

[Mr. Allen here interposed, to explain, that the vote he gave 
for Mr. Calhoun's plan of cession to the new states was on the 
ground of substituting that in preference to the plan of distribu- 
tion among all the states,] 

Oh! ho ! — ah ! is that the ground of the Senator's vote? 

[Mr. Allen said he had had a choice between two evils — the 
amendment of the Senator from South Carolina, and the amend- 
ment of the Senator from Kentucky ; and it was well known on 
this side of the house that he took the first only as a less evil 
than the last.] 

Well; all I will say is, that that ^ide of the house kept the 
secret remarkably well. [Loud laughter.] And no one better 
than the Senator himself. There were seventeen votes given in 
favor of the plan of the Senator from South Carolina, to my 
utter astonishment at the time. I had not expected any other 
vote for it but that of the Senator from South Carolina himself, 
and the Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Norvell.) No other did, or 
I suppose would rise and vote to cede away, without any just or 

* The result of the returns has since been announced, and it shows a population 
of rising seventeen millio^ns. Still Ohio has the proportion supposed, of about one- 
tenth of the population, according to federal numbers, which furnish the rale pro- 
posed for distribution. 



406 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

certain equivalent, more, than a billion of acres of public land of 
the people of the United States. If tlie vote of the other fifteen 
Senators was also misunderstood, in the same way as the Sena- 
tors from Ohio, I shall be very glad of it. 

But I was going to show what sort of a bargain for Ohio her 
two Senators, by their votes, appeared to be assenting to. There 
are 800,000 acres of public land remaining in Ohio, after being 
culled lor near half a century, thirty-five per cent, of the proceeds 
of which are to be assigned to that state by the plan of ces- 
sion. For this trifling consideration she is to surrender her 
interest in 160,000,000 of acres — in other words, she is to give 
16,000,000, (that being her tenth,) for the small interest secured 
to her in the 800.000 acres. It", as 1 believe and have contended, 
the principle of cession, being once established, would be finally 
extended to the whole public domain, then Ohio would give one 
hundred millions of acres of land, (that being her tenth part of 
the whole of the public lands, for the comparatively contemptible 
consideration that she would acquire in the 800,000 acres. A 
capital bargain this, to which I supposed the two Senators had 
assented, by which, in behalf of their state, they exchanged one 
hundred millions of acres of land against eight hundred thou- 
sand ! [A laugh.] 

I do not think that the Senator's explanation mends the mat- 
ter much. According to that, he did not vote for cession because 
he liked cession. No 1 that is very bad, but, bad as it may be, 
it is not so great an evil as distribution, and he preferred it to 
distribution. Let us see what Ohio would get by distribution. 
Assuming that the public lands will yield only five millions of 
dollars annually, her proportion, being one-tenth, would be half a 
million of dollars. But I entertain no doubt that, under proper 
management, in a few years the public lands will produce a 
much larger sum, perhaps ten or fifteen millions of dollars: bo 
that the honorable Senator prefers giving away for a song the 
interest of his state, presently, in 160,000,000 of acres, and even- 
tually in a billion, to receiving annually, in perpetuity, half 
a million of dollars, with an encouraging prospect of a large 
augmentation of that sum. That is the notion which the two 
Senators from Ohio entertain of her interest! Go home, Mee- 
eieurs Senators from Ohio, and tell your constituents of your 
votes. Tell them of your preference of a cession of all their 
interest in the public lands, with the exception of that inconside- 
rable portion remaining in Ohio, to the reception of Ohio's fair 
distributive share of the proceeds of all the public lands of the 
United States, now and hereafter. I do not seek to interfere in 
the delicate relation between Senators and their constituents; 
but I think I know something of the feehngs and views of my 
neighbors, the people of Ohio. I have recently read an exposi- 
tion of her true interests and views in the message of her en- 
lightened Governor, directly contrary to those which appear to 
be entertatned by her two Senators j and I aro greatly deceived 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 407 

if a large majority of the people of that state do not coincide 
with their Governor. 

The unequal operation of the plan of cession among tlie nine 
new states has been, perhaps, sufficiently exposed by others. 
The states with the smallest population get the most land. Thus 
Arkansas, with only about one-fifteenth part of the population 
of Ohio, will receive upwards of twenty-eight times as much 
land as Ohio. The scheme proceeds upon the idea of reversing 
the maxim of the greatest good to the greatest number, and of 
Bubstituting the greatest good to the smallest number. 

There can be every species of partial distribution of public 
land or its proceeds but an honest, impartial, straight-forward 
distribution among all the states. Can the Senator from New- 
York, with his profound knowledge of the constitution, tell mo 
on what constitutional authority it is that lands are granted 
to the Indians beyond the Mississippi? 

[Mr. Wright said that there was no property acquired, and 
therefore no constitutional obligation applied.] 

And that is the amount of the Senator's information of our 
Indian relations! Why, sir, we send them across the Mississip- 
pi, and put them upon our lands, from Avhich all Indian title had 
been removed. We promise them even ihe fee simple ; but, if 
we did nat, they are at least to retain the possession and enjoy 
the use of the lands until they choose to sell them ; and the 
whole amount of our right would be a pre-emption privilege of 
purchase, to the exclusion of all private persons or public au- 
thorities, foreign or domestic. This is the doctrine coeval with 
the colonization of this continent, proclaimed by the king of 
Great Britain, in his proclamation of 1763, asserted in the con- 
ferences at Ghent, and sustained by the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Now, such an allotment of pubhc lands to the 
Indians, whether they acquire the fee or a right of possession 
indefinite as to tim.e, is equivalent to any distribution. 

Thus, sir. we perceive, that all kinds of distribution of the pubHc 
lands or their proceeds may be made — to particular states, to pre- 
emptioners,to charities, to objects of education or internal improve- 
ment, to foreigners, to Indians, to black, red, white, and gray, to 
every body, but among all the states of the Union. There is an old 
adage, according to which charity should begin at home ; but, 
according to the doctrines of the opponents of distribution, it nei- 
ther begins nor ends at home. 

[Here Mr. Clay gave way to an adjournment.] 

It is not my intention to inflict upon the Senate even a reca- 
pitulation of the heads of argument which I had the honor to 
address to it yesterday. On one collateral point I desire to sup- 
ply an omission as to the trade between this country and France. 
1 stated the fact that, according to the returns of imports and ex- 
ports, there existed an unfavorable balance against the United 
States^ amounting, exclusively of what is re-exported, to seven- 
teen millions of dollars ; but I omitted another important fact, 



403 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

namely, that, by the laws of Prance, there is imposed on the raw 
material imported into that kingdom a duty of twenty francs on 
every hundred kilogrammes, equal to about two cents per pound 
on American cotton, at the present market price. Now what is 
the fact as to the comparative rate of duties in the two countries ? 
France imposes on tlie raw product (which is the mere com- 
mencement of value in articles which, when wrought and finally 
touched, will be worth two or three hundred fold) a duty of near 
twenty-five per cent., while we admit, free of duty, or with nomi- 
nal duties, costly luxuries, the product of French industry and 
taste, wholly unsusceptible of any additional value by any exer- 
tion of American skill or industry. In any thing I have said on 
this occasion, nothing is further from my intention than to utter 
one word unfriendly to France. On the contrary, it has been 
alwaj's my desire to see our trade with France increased and 
extended upon terms of reciprocal benefit. With that view, I 
was in favor of an arrangement in the tariff of 1832, by which 
silks imported into the United Slates from beyond the Cape of 
Good Hope, were charged with a duty of ten per cent, higher 
than those brought from France and countries this side the cape, 
especially to encourage the commerce with France. 

While speaking of France, allow me to make an observation, 
although it has no immediate or legitimate connexion with any 
thing before the Senate. It is to embrace the opportunity of ex- 
pressing my deep regret at a sentiment attributed by the public 
journals to a highly distinguished and estimable countryman of 
ours in another part of the capitol, which implied a doubt as to the 
validity of the title of Louis PhiUippe to the throne of France^ 
inasmuch as it was neither acquired by conquest nor descent, and 
raising a question as to his being the lawful monarch of the 
French people. It appears to me that, after the memorable re- 
volution of July, in which our illustrious and lamented friend, 
Lafayette, bore a part so eminent and effectual, and the subse- 
quent hearty acquiescence of all France in the establishment of 
the Orleans branch of the house of Bourbon upon the throne, the 
present king has as good a title to his crown as any of the other 
sovereigns of Europe have to theirs, and quite as good as any 
which force or the mere circumstance of birth could confer. And 
if an individual so humble and at such a distance as I am, might 
be allowed to express an opinion on the public concerns of anoth- 
er country and another hemisphere, I would add that no Chief 
Magistrate of any nation, amidst difficulties, public and personal, 
the most complicated and appaUiiig, could have governed with 
more ability, wisdom and firnmess than have been displayed by 
Louis Pliillippe. AH Christendom owes him an acknowledgment 
for his recent successful efforts to prevent a war which would 
have been disgraceful to Christian Europe — a war arising from 
the inordinate pretensions of an upstart Mahometan Pacha, a re- 
bel against his lawful sovereign and a usurper of his rights — a 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 409 

war which, if once lighted up, must have involved all Europe, 
and have led to consequences which it is impossible to foresee. 

I return to the subject immediately before us. 

In tracing the history of that portion of our public domain which 
was acquired by the war of the revolution, we should always re- 
collect the danger to the peace and harmony among the mem- 
bers of the coniederacy with whicii it was pregnant. It prevent- 
ed for a long time the ratification of the articles of confederation 
by all the states, some of them refusing their assent until a just 
and equitable settlement was made of the question of the crown 
lands. The argument they urged as to these lands, in a waste 
and unappropriated stare, was, that they had been conquered by 
the common valor, the common exertions, and the common sacri- 
fices of all the states ; that they ought therefore to be the com- 
mon property of all the states, and that it would be manifestly 
wrong and unjust that the states within whose limits these crown 
lands happened to lie should exclusively enjoy the benefit of 
them. Virginia, within whose boundaries by lar the greater part 
of these crown lands were situated, and by whose separate and 
unaided exertions on the bloody theatre of Kentucky and beyond 
the Ohio, under the direction of the renowned George Rogers 
Clarke, the conquest of most of them was achieved, was, to her 
immortal honor, among the first to yield to these just and patri- 
otic views, and by her magnificent grant to the Union, powerfully 
contributed to restore harmony, and quietall apprehensions among 
the several states. 

Among the objects to be attained by the cession from the states 
to the confederation of these crown lands, a very important one 
was to provide a fund to pay the debts of the revolution. The 
Senator from New York (Mr. Wright) made it the object of a 
large part of the argument which he addressed to the Senate, to 
show the contrary ; and so far as the mere terms of the deeds of 
cession are concerned, I admit the argument was sustained. No 
such purpose appears on the face of the deeds, as far as I have 
examined them. 

[Mr. Wright here interposed, and said that he had not under- 
taken to argue that the cessions made by the states to the Union 
were not for the purpose of extinguishing the public debt, but 
that they were not exclusively for that purpose.] 

It is not material whether they were made for the sole purpose 
of extinguishing the revolutionary debt or not. I think I shall be 
able to show, in the progress of my argument, that, from the mo- 
ment of the adoption of the federal constitution, the proceeds of 
the public lands ought to have been divided among the states. 

But that the payment of the revolutionary debt was one of the 
objects of the cession, is a matter of incontestable history. We 
should have an imperfect idea of the intentions of the parties if 
we confined our attention to the mere language of the deeds. In 
order to ascertain their views, we must examine contemporane- 
35 



410 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

ous acts, resolutions and proceedings. One of these resolotionsr,' 
clearly manifesting the purpose I have stated, has probably es- 
caped the notice of the Senator from New-York. It was a reso- 
lution of the old Congress, adopted in April, 1783, preceding the 
final cession from Virginia, which was in March, 1784. There 
had been an attempt to make the cession as early as 1781, but, 
owing to the conditions with which it was embarrassed, and oth- 
er difficulties, the cession was not consummated until March, 
1784. The resolution I refer to bears a date prior to that of the 
cession, and must be taken with it, as indicative of the motives 
which probably operated on Virginia to make, and the confede- 
ration to accept, that memorable grant. I will read it: 

Resolved^ That as a further mean, as well of hastening the 
extinguishment of the debts as of establishing the harmony of the 
United States, it be recommended to the states which have pass- 
ed no acts towards complying with the resolutions of Congress 
of the 6th of September and 10th of October, 1780, relative to the 
cession of territorial claims, to make the liberal cessions therein 
recommended, and to the states which may have passed acts 
complying-with the said resolutions in part only, to revise and 
complete such compliance. 

That was one of the great objects of the cession. Seven of 
the old thirteen states had waste crown lands within their limits; 
the other six had none. These complained that what ought to 
be regarded as property common to them all would accrue ex- 
clusively to the seven states, by the operation of the articles of 
confederation ; and, therefore, for the double purpose of extin- 
guishing the revolutionary debt, and of establishing harmony 
among the states of the Union, the cession of those lands to the 
United States was recommended by Congress. 

And here let us pause for a moment, and contemplate the pro- 
position of the Senator from South Carolina and its possible con- 
sequences. We have seen that the possession by seven states 
of these public lands, won by the valor of the whole thirteen, was 
cause of so much dissatisfaction to the other six as to have occa- 
sioned a serious impediment to the Ibrmation of the confederacy; 
and we have seen that, to remove all jealousy and disquietude 
on tiiat account, in conformity with the recommendation of Con- 
gress, the seven states, Virginia taking the lead,, animated by a 
noble spirit of justice and patriotism, ceded the waste lands to 
the United States for the benefit of all the states. Now what is 
the measure of the Senator from South Carolina? It is in etiect 
to restore the discordant and menacing state of things which ex- 
isted in 1783, prior to any cession from the states. It is worse 
than that. For it proposes that seventeen states shall give up 
immediatel}' or eventually all their interest in the public lands, 
lying in nine states, to those nine states. Now if the seven states 
had refused to cede at all, they could at least have asserted that 
they fought Crreat Britain for these lands as hard as the eix. — 
They would have had, therefore, the apparent right of conquest, 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 41] 

although it was a common conquest. But the Senator's propo- 
sition is to cede these pubhc lands from the states which Ibught 
for them in the revolutionary war, to states that neither I'ought 
for them nor had existence during that war. It" the apprehension 
of an appropriation of these lands to the exclusive advantage of 
the seven states was nigh preventing the establishment of the 
Union, can it be supposed that its security and harmony will be 
unaffected by a transfer of them from seventeen to nine states ? 
But the Senator's proposition goes yet further. It has been shown 
that it will establisli a precedent, which must lead to a cession 
from the United States of all the public domain, whether won by 
the sword or acquired by treaties with foreign powers, to new 
states, as they shall be admitted into the Union. 

In the second volume of the laws of the United States will be 
found the act, known as the funding act, which passed in the 
year 1790. By the last section of that act the public lands are 
pledged, and pledged exclusively, to the payment of the revolu- 
tionary debt until it should be satisfied. Tiius we find, prior to 
the cession, an invitation from Congress to the states to cede the 
waste lands, among other objects, for the purpose of paying the 
public debt; and, after the cessions were made, one of the earli- 
est acts of Congress pledged them to that object. So the matter 
stood whilst tliat debt hung over us. During all that time there 
was a general acquiescence in the dedication of the public lands 
to that just object. No one thought of disturbing the arrange- 
ment. But when the debt was discharged, or rather Avhen, from 
the rapidity of the process of its extinction, it was evident that 
it would soon be discharged, attention was directed to a proper 
disposition of the public lands. No one doubted the power of 
Congress to dispose of them according to its sound discretion. — 
Such was the view of President Jackson, distinctly communica- 
ted to Congress, in the message which I have already cited. 

"As the lands may now be considered as relieved from this 
pledge, the object for which they were ceded having been ac- 
complished, it is in the discretion of Congress to dispose of them 
in such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and gen- 
eral interest of the American people." 

Can the power of Congress to dispose of the public domain 
be more broadly asserted 1 What was then said about reve- 
nue ? That it should cease to be a source of revenue ! We 
never hear of the revenue argument but when the proposition 
is \ip to make an equal and just distribution of the proceeds. 
When the favorable, but, as I regard them, wild and squander- 
ing projects of gentlemen are under consideration, they are 
profoundly silent as to that argument. 

I come now to an examination of the terms on Avhich the ces- 
sion was made by the states, as contained in the deeds of cession. 
And I shall take that from Virginia, because it was in some 
measure the model deed, and because it conveyed by far the 
most important part of the public lands acquired from the ceding 



412 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

states. I will first dispose of a preliminary difficulty raised hy 
the senator from New-York. That senalor imagined a case, 
and then combatted it with great force. The case he supposed 
was, that the senator from Massachusetts and I had maintained 
tliat, under that deed, there was a reversion to the states, and 
much of his argument was directed to prove that there is 
no reversion, but that if there were, it could only be to the ceding 
states. Now neither tlie senator from Massachusetts nor I at- 
tempted to erect any sach windmill as the senator from New- 
York has imagined, and he might have spared himself the 
heavy blows which, like another lamed hero, not less valorous 
than himself, he dealt upon it. What I really maintain and 
have always maintained is, that according to the terms them- 
selves of the deed of cession, although there is conveyed a com- 
mon property to be held ibr the common benefit, there is never- 
theless an assignment of a separate use. The ceded land, I ad- 
mit, is to remain a common fund for all the states, to be admin- 
istered by a common authority, but the proceeds or profits were 
to be appropriated to the states in severalty, according to a 
certain prescribed rule. I contend this is manifestly true from 
the words of the deed. What are they? "That all the lands 
within the territory so ceded to the United States, and not re- 
served for or appropriated to any of the before-mentioned pur- 
poses, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of 
the American army, shall be considered a common fund for the 
use and benefit of such of the United States as have become, or 
shall become, members of the confederation or federal alliance 
of the said states, Virginia inclusive, according to their usual re^ 
spective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and 
shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and 
for no other use or purpose whatsoever." 

The territory conveyed was to be regarded as an inviolable 
fund for the use and benefit of such states as were admitted or 
might be admitted into the Union, Virginia inclusive, according 
to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and 
expenditure. It was to be faithfully and bona fide administered 
for that sole purpose, and for no other purpose whatever. 

Where then is the authority for all those wild, extravagant 
and unjust projects, by which, instead of administration of the 
ceded territory for all the states and all the people of the Union, 
it is to be granted to particular states, "wasted in schemes of 
graduation and pre-emption, for the benefit of the trespasser, the 
alien and the speculator ? 

The senator irom New-York, pressed by the argument as to 
the application of the fund to the separate use of the states, de- 
ducible from the phrases in the deed, " Virginia inclusive," said 
that they were necessary, because without tiiem Virginia would 
have been entitled to no part of the ceded lands. No? Were 
they not ceded to the United States, was she not one of those 
states, and did not the grant to them include her ? Why then 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 413 

were the words inserted 1 Can any other purpose be imagined 
than that of securing to Virginia her separate or '• respective" 
proportion? The whole paragraph, cautiously and carefully 
composed, clearly demonstrates that, although the fund, was to 
be common, the title common, the administration common, the 
use and benefit were to be separate among the several states, in 
the defined proportions. 

The grant was for the benefit of the states, "according to their 
usual respective proportions in the common charge and expendi- 
ture." Bear in mind the date of the deed ; it was in 1784 — be- 
fore the adoption of the present constitution, and whilst the 
articles of confederation were in force. What, according to 
them, was the mode of assessing the quotas of the different 
states towards the common charge and expenditure ? It was 
made upon the basis of the value of all the surveyed land, and 
the improvements, in each state. Each state was assessed ac- 
cording to the aggregate value of surveyed land and improve- 
ments within its limits. After that was ascertained, the process 
of assessment was this: suppose there were five millions of dol- 
lars required to be raised for the use of the general government, 
and one miUion of that five were the proportion of Virginia ; 
there would be an account stated on the books of the general 
government with the state of Virginia, in which she would be 
charged with that million. Then there would be an account 
kept for the proceeds of the sales of the public lands ; and, if 
these amounted to five millions of dollars also, Virginia would be 
credited with one milhon, being her fair proportion ; and thus 
the account would be balanced. It is unnecessary to pursue the 
process with all the other states ; this is enough to show that, 
according to the original contemplation of the grant, the com- 
mon fund was for the separate benefit of the states ; and that, if 
there had been no change in the form of government, each 
would have been credited with its share of the proceeds of the 
public lands in its account with the general government. Is not 
this indisputable ? But let me suppose that Virginia or any 
other state had said to the general government : '' I choose to 
receive my share of the proceeds of the public lands into my se- 
parate treasury ; pay it to me, and I will provide in some other 
mode, more agreeable to me, for the payment of my assessed 
quota of the expenses of the general government:" can it be 
doubted that such a demand would have been legitimate and 
perfectly compatible with the deed of cession? Even under 
our present system, you will recollect, sir, that, during the last 
war, any state was allowed to assume the payment of i£s share 
of the direct tax, and raise it, according to its own pleasure or 
convenience, from its own people, instead of the general govern- 
ment collecting it. 

From the period of the adoption of the present constitution of 
the United States, the mode of raising revenue, for the expenses 
35* 



414 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

of the general government, has been changed. Instead of acting 
upon the states, and through them upon the people of the seve- 
ral states, in the form of assessed quotas or contributions, the 
general government now acts directly upon the people them- 
selvs, in the form of taxes, duties, or excises. Now, as the chief 
source of revenue raised by this government, is from foreign 
imports, and as the consumer pays the duty, it is entirely im- 
practicable to ascertain how much of the common charge and 
general expenditure is contributed by any one state to the Union. 
By the deed of cession a great and a sacred trust was created. 
The general government was the trustee, and the states were 
the cestuy que trust. According to the trust the measure of 
benefit accruing to each state from the ceded lands was to be 
the measure of burden which it bore in the general charge and 
expenditure. But, by the substitution of a new rule of raising 
revenue to that which was in contemplation at the time of the 
execution of the deed of cession, it has become impossible to ad- 
just the exact proportion of burden and benefit with each other. 
The measure of burden is lost, although the subject remains 
which was to be apportioned according to that measure. Who 
can now ascertain whether any one of the states has received, or is 
receiving, a benefit from the ceded lands proportionate to its 
burden in the general government ? Who can know that we 
are not daily violating the rule of apportionment prescribed by 
the deed of cession '? To me it appears clear tliat, either from 
the epoch of the establishment of the present constitution, or 
certainly from that of the payment of the revolutionary debt, the 
proceeds of the public lands being no longer applied by the 
general government according to that rule, they ought to have 
been transferred to the states upon some equitable principle of 
division, conforming as near as possible to the spirit of the ces- 
sions. The trustee not being able, by the change of govern- 
ment, to execute the trust agreeably to the terms of the trust, 
ought to have done, and ought yet to do, that which a chancel- 
lor v/ould decree if he had jurisdiction of the case — make a di- 
vision of the proceeds among the states upon some rule approx- 
imating as near as practicable to that of the trust. And what 
rule can so well fulfil this condition as that which was introduced 
in the bill which I presented to the Senate, and which is con- 
tained in my coUeaerue's amendment? That rule is founded on 
federal numbers, which are made up of all the inhabitants of 
the United States other than the slaves, and three-fifths of them. 
Tlic South, surely, should be the last section to object to a dis- 
tribution founded on that rule. And yet, if I rightly understood 
one of the dark allusions of the senator from South Carolina, 
(Mr. Calhoun,) he has attempted to excite the jealousy of the 
north on that very ground. Be that as it may, I can conceive 
of no rule more equitable than that compound one, and, I think, 
that will be the judgment of all parts of the country, the objec- 
tion of that senator liotwithstanding. Although slaves are, in a 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 415 

limited proportion, one of the elements that enter into the rule, 
it will be recollected that they are both consumers and the ob- 
jects of taxation. 

It has been argued tliat since the fund was to be a common 
one, and its administration was to be by the general govern- 
ment, the fund ought to be used also by that government to the 
exclusion of the states separately. But that is a. iimi seqidtur. 
It may be a common fund, a common title, and a common or 
single administration ; but is there any thing, in all that, incom- 
patible with a periodical distribution of the profits of the fund 
among the parties for whose benefit the trust was created? 
What is the ordinary case of tenants in common 1 There the 
estate is common, the title is common, the defence against all at- 
tacks is common ; but the profits of the estate go to the separate 
use of, and are enjoyed by, each tenant. Does it therefore cease 
to be an estate in common ? 

Again. There is another view. It has been argued, from the 
fact that the ceded lands in the hands of the trustee were for the 
common benefit, that that object could be no otherwise accom- 
plished than to use them in the disbursements of the general 
government; that the general government only must expend 
them. Now, I do not admit that. In point of lact, the general 
government would continue to collect and receive the fund, and 
as a trustee would pay over to each state its distributive share. 

The public domain would still remain in common. Then, aa 
to the expenditure, there may be different modes of expenditure. 
One is, for the general government itself to disperse it, in pay- 
ments to the civil list, the army, the navy, &c. Another is, by 
distributing it among the states, to constitute them so many 
agencies through which the expenditure is effected. If the gen- 
eral government and the state governments were in two different 
countries ; if they had entirely distinct and distant theatres of 
action, and operated upon different races of men, it would be 
another case; but here the two systems of government, although 
for different purposes, are among the same people, and the con- 
stituency of both of them is the same. The expenditure, whether 
made by the one government directly, or through the state govern- 
ments as agencies, is all for the happiness and prosperity, the 
honor and the glory, of one and the same people. 

The subject is susceptible of other illustrations, of which I will 
add one or two. Here is a fountain of water held in common 
by several neighbors, living around it. It is a perennial foun- 
tain — deep, pure, copious, and salubrious. Does it cease to be 
common because some equal division is made by which the 
members of each adjacent family dip their vessels into it and 
take out as much as they want? A tract of land is held in com- 
mon by tlie inhabitants of a neighboring village. Does it cease 
to be a common property because each villager uses it for his 
particular beasts'? A river is the common highroad of naviga- 
tion to conterminous powers or states. Does it cease to be com- 



416 ON THE DISTKIBUTION OF THE 

mon because on its bosom are borne vessels bearing the stripes 
and the stars or the British cross ? These, and other examples 
which might be given, prove that the argument, on which so 
much reliance has been placed, is not well founded, that, be- 
cause the public domain is held for the common benefit of the 
states, there can be no other just application of its proceeds than 
through the direct expenditures of the general government. 

I might have avoided most of this consumption of time by fol- 
lowing the bad example of quoting from my own productions ; 
and I ask the Senate to excuse one or two citiations from the 
report I made in 1834, in answer to the veto message of Presi- 
dent Jackson, as they present a condensed view of the argument 
which I have been urging. Speaking of the cession from Vir- 
ginia the report says : 

" Tliis deed created a trust in the United States which they 
are not at liberty to violate. But the deed does not require that 
the fund should be disbursed in the payment of the expenses of 
the general governmeut. It makes no such provision in express 
terms, nor is such a duty on the part of the trustee fairly dedu- 
cible from the language of the deed. On the contrary, the 
language of the deed seems to contemplate a separate use and 
enjoyment of the fund by tlie states individually, rather than a 
preservation of it for common expenditure. The fund itself is 
to be a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the 
United States as have become or shall become members of the 
confederation or federal alliance, Virginia inclusive. The grant 
is not for the benefit of the confederation, but for that of the se- 
veral states which compose the confederation. The fund is to 
be under the management of the confederation collectively, and 
ia so far a common fund ; but it is to be managed for the use and 
benefit of the states individually, and is so far a separate fund 
under a joint management. Whilst there was a heavy debt ex- 
isting, created by the war of the Revolution, and by a subse- 
quent war, there was a fitness in applying the proceeds of a com- 
mon fund to the discharge of a common debt, which reconciled 
all ; but that debt being now discharged, and the general gov- 
ernment no longer standing in need of the fund, there is evident 
Propriety in a division of it among those for whose use and 
enefit it was originally designed, and whose wants require it. 
And the committee cannot conceive how this appropriation of it, 
upon principles of equality and justice among the several states, 
can be regarded as contrary to either the letter or spirit of the 
deed. 

The senator from New-York, assuming that the whole debt 
of the Revolution has not yet been paid by the proceeds of the 
public lands, insists that we should continue to retain the avails 
of them until a reimbursement shall have been effected of ail 
that has been applied to that object. But the public lands were 
never set apart or relied upon as the exclusive resource for the 
payment of the revolutionary debt. To give confidence to pub- 



PROCEEDS OP THE PUBLIC LANDS, 417 

lit creditors, and credit to the government, they were pledged to 
that object, along with other means applicable to its discharge. 
The debt is paid, and the pledge of the public lands has per- 
formed its office. And who paid what the lands did not? Was 
it not the people of the United States? — those very people to 
whose use, under the guardianship of their states, it is now pro- 
posed to dedicate the proceeds of the public lands? If the 
money had been paid by a foreign government, the proceeds 
of the public lands, in honor and good faith, would have been 
bound to reimburse it. But our revolutionary debt, if not wholly 
paid by the public lands, was otherwise paid out of the pockets 
of the people Avho own the lands; and if money has been drawn 
from their pockets for a purpose to which these lands were des- 
tined, it creates an additional obligation upon Congress to re- 
place the amount so abstracted by distributing the proceeds 
among the states for the benefit and the reimbursement of the 
people. 

But the senator from New- York has exhibited a most formid- 
able account against the public domain, tending to show, if it be 
correct, that what has been heretofore regarded, at home and 
abroad as a source of great national wealth, has been a constant 
charge upon the treasury, and a great loss to the country. The 
credit side, according to his statement, was, I believe, one hun- 
dred and twenty millions, but the debit side was much larger. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that it is easy to state an 
account presenting a balance on the one side or the other, as 
may suit the taste or views of the person making it up. This 
inay be done by making charges that have no foundation, or 
omitting credits that ought to be allowed, or by both. The most 
certain operation is the latter, and the senator, who is a pretty 
fhorough-going gentleman, has adopted it. 

The first item that I shall notice, with which, I think, he im- 

f)roperly debits the public lands, is a charge of eighty odd mil- 
ions of dollars for the expense of conducting our Indian rela- 
tions. Now, if this single item can be satisfactorily expunged, 
no more need be done to turn a large balance in favor of the 
public lands. I ask, then, with what color of propriety can the 
public lands be charged with the entire expense incident to our 
Indian relations ? If the government did not own an acre of 
public lands, this expense would have been incurred. The ab- 
origines are here ; our fathers found them in possession of thi.? 
land, these woods, and these waters. The preservation of peace 
with them, the fulfilment of the duties of humanity towards them, 
their civilization, education, conversion to Christianity, friendly 
and commercial intercourse — these are the causes of the chief 
expenditure on their account, and they are quite distinct from the 
fact of our possessing the public domain. When every acre of 
that domain has gone from you, the Indian tribes, if not in the 
mean time extinct, may yet remain, imploring you, for charity's 
sake, to assist them, and to share with them those blessings, of 



418 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

which, by the vreakness of their nature, or the cruelty of your 
policy, they have been stripped. Why, especially, should the 
public lands be chargeable with that large portion of the eighty 
odd millions of dollars, arising from the removal of the Indians 
from the east to the Avest side of the Mississippi ? They pro- 
tested against it. They entreated you to allow them to remain 
at the homes and by the side of the graves of their ancestors ; 
but your stern and rigorous policy would not allow you to listen 
to their suiiplications. The public domain, instead of being 
justly chargeable with the expense of their removal, is entitled 
to a large credit for the vast territorial districts beyond the 
Mississippi which it furnished, for the settlement of the emigrant 
Indians. 

I felt that I have not strength to go through all the items of 
the senator's account, nor need I. The deduction of this single 
item will leave a nett balance in favor of the public lands of be- 
tween sixty and seventy millions of dollars. 

What; after all, is the senator's mode of stating the account 
with the public lands? Has he taken any other than a mere 
counting house view of them? Has he exhibited any thing 
more than any sub-accountant or clerk might make out in any 
of tlie departments, as probably it Avas prepared, cut and dry, to 
the senator's hands ? Are there no higher or more statesman- 
like views to be taken of the public lands, and of the acquisitions 
of Louisiana and Florida, than the account of dollars and cents 
which the senator has presented ? I have said that the senator 
by the double process of erroneous insertion and unjust suppres- 
sion of items, has shaped an account to suit his argument, which 
presents any thing but a full and fair statement of the case. 
And is it not so ? Louisiana cost fifteen millions of dollars. 
And, if you had the power of selling, how many hundred millions 
of dollars would you now ask for the states of Louisiana, Mis- 
souri, and Arkansas — people, land, and all? Is the sovereignty 
which you acquired of the two provinces of Louisiana and Flori- 
da nothing ? Are the public buildings and works, the fortifica- 
tions, cannon, and other arms, independent of the pubhc lands, 
nothing ? Is the navigation of the great fadier of waters, which 
you secured from the head to the mouth, on both sides of the 
river, by the purchase of Louisiana, to the total exclusion of all 
foreign powers, not worthy of being taken into the senator's 
estimate of the advantages of the acquisition ? Who, at all ac- 
quainted with the history and geography of this continent, does 
not know that the Mississippi could not have remained in the 
hands, and its navigation continued subject to the control, of a 
foreign power without imminent danger to the stability of the 
Union ? Is the cost of the public domain undeserving of any 
credit on account of the vast sums which, during the greater 
part of this century, you have been receiving into the public 
treasury from the custom-houses of New-Orleans and Mobile ? 
Or on account of the augmentation of the revenue of the gov- 



PROCEEDS OP THE PUBLIC LANDS. 419 

ernment, from the consumption of dutiable articles by the popu- 
lation within the boundaries of the two ibrmer provinces ? The 
national benefits and advantages accruing from their possession 
have been so various and immense that it would be impossible to 
make any mere pecuniary estimate of them. In any aspect of 
the subject, the senator's petty items of Indian annuities must 
appear contemptible in comparison with these splendid national 
acquisitions. 

But the public lands are redeemed. They have long been re- 
deemed. President Jack^ion announced, more than eight years 
ago, an incontestible truth when he stated that they might be 
considered as relieved from the pledge which had been made of 
them, the object having been accomplished for which they were 
ceded, and that it was in the discretion of Congress to dispose 
of them in such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, 
and general interest of the American people. That which Con- 
gress has the power to do, by an express grant of authority in 
the constitution, it is, in my humble opinion, imperatively bound 
to do by the terms of the deed of cession. Distribution, and only 
distribution, of the proceeds of the public lands, among the 
states, upon the principles proposed, will conform to the spirit, 
and execute the trust created in the deeds of cession. Each 
slate, upon grounds of strict justice, as well as equity, has a 
right to demand its distributive share of those proceeds. It is 
a debt which this government owes to every slate — a debt, pay- 
ment of which might be enforced by process of law if there were 
any forum before which the United States could be brought. 

And are there not, sir, existing at this moment the most urgent 
and powerful motives for this dispensation of justice to the states 
at the hands of the general government ? A stranger listening 
to the argument of the senator from New- York, would conclude 
that we were not one united people, but that there were two se- 
parate and distinct nations — one acted upon by the general gov- 
ernment, and the other by the state governments. But is that a 
fair representation of the case ? Are we not one and the same 
people, acted upon, it is true, by two systems of government, 
two sets of public agents — the one estabhshed for general and 
the other for local purposes? The constituency is identical and 
the same, although it is doubly governed. It is the bounden 
duty of those who are charged with the administration of each 
system so to administer it as to do as much good and as little 
harm as possible, within the scope of tlieir respective powers. 
They should also each take into view the defects in the powers 
or defects in the administration of the powers of the other, and 
endeavor to supply them as far as its legitimate authority ex- 
tends, and the wants or necessities of the people require. For, 
if distress, adversity and ruin come upon our constituents from 
any quarter, should they not have our active exertions to relieve 
them as well as all our sympathies and our deepest regrets ? It 
would be but a poor consolation to the general government, if 



420 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

Buch were the fact, that this unhappy state of things was pro- 
duced by the measures and operation of the state governments, 
and not by its own. And, if the ijeneral government, by a sea- 
sonable and legitimate exercise of its authority, could relieve the 
people, and would not relieve them, the reproaches due to it 
would be quite as great as if that government itself, and not the 
state governments, had brought these distresses upon the people. 

The powers of taxation possessed by the general government 
are unlimited. The most fruitful and the least burdensome 
modes of taxation are confided to this government exclusive of 
the states. The power of laying duties on foreign imports is 
entirely monopolized by the federal government. The states 
have only the power of direct or internal taxation. They 
have none to impose duties on imports, not even luxuries ; we 
have. And v/hat is their condition at this moment? Som.e of 
them are greatly in debt, at a loss even to raise means to pay 
the interest upon their bonds. These debts were contracted 
under the joint encouragement of the recommendation of this 
government and prosperous times, in the prosecution of the 
laudable object of internal improvements. They may have 
pushed, in some instances, their schemes too far ; but it was in 
a good cause, and it is easy to make reproaches when things 
turn out ill. 

And here let me say that, looking to the patriotic object of 
these state debts, and the circumstances under whicli they were 
contracted, I saw with astonished and indignant feelings a reso- 
lution submitted to the Senate, at the last session, declaring that 
the general government would not assume the payment of them. 
A more wicked, malignant, Danton-like proposition was never 
offered to the consideration of any deliberative assembly. It 
was a negative proposition, not a negative of any affirmative 
resolution presented to the Senate ; for no such affirmative 
resolution was offered by any one, nor do I believe was ever 
thought or dreamed of by any one. When, where, by whom, 
was the extravagant idea ever entertained of an assumption of 
the state debts by the general government? There was not a 
solitary voice raised in favor of such a measure in this Senate. 
Would it not have been time enough to have denounced as- 
sumption when it v/as seriously proposed? Yet, at a moment 
when the states were greatly embarrassed, when their credit 
was sinking, at this critical moment, was a measure brought 
forward, unnecessarily, wantonly and gratuitously, made the 
subject of an elaborate report, and exciting a protracted debate, 
the inevitable effect of all which must have been to create abroad 
distrust in the ability and good faith of the debtor states. Can 
it be doubted that a serious injury was inflicted upon them b)' 
this unprecedented proceeding ? Nothing is more delicate than 
credit or character. Their credit cannot fail to have suffered in 
the only place where capital could be obtained, and where at 
that very time some of the agents of the states were negotiating 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS, 421 

with foreign bankers. About that period one of the Senators 
of this body had in person gone abroad for the purpose of ob- 
taining advances of money on Illinois stock. 

The Senator from New-York said that the European capital- 
ists had fixed the value of the state bonds of this country at fifty 
per cent.; and therefore it was a matter of no consequence what 
might be said about the credit of the states here. But the Sena- 
tor is mistaken, or I have been entirely misinformed. I under- 
stand that some bankers have limited their advances upon the 
amount of state bonds, prior to their actual sale, to fifty per 
cent., in like manner as commission merchants will advance on 
the goods consigned to them, prioi: to their sale. But in such an 
operation it is manifestly for the interest of the states, as well as 
the bankers, that the bonds should command in the market as 
much as possible above the fifty per cent. ; and any proceeding 
which impairs the value of the bonds must be injurious to both. 
In any event, the loss would fall upon the states; and that this 
loss was aggravated by what occurred here, on the resolution to 
which I have referred, no one, at all acquainted with the sensi- 
tiveness of credit and of capitalists, can hesitate to believe. My 
friends and I made the most strenuous opposition to the resolu- 
tion, but it was all unavailing, and a majority of the Senate 
adopted the report of the committee to which the resolution had 
been referred. We urged the impolicy and injustice of the pro- 
ceeding; that no man in his senses would ever propose the as- 
sumption of the state debts ; that no such proposal had, in fact, 
been made; that the debts of the states were unequal in amount, 
contracted by states of unequal population, and that some states 
were not in debt at all. How then was it possible to think of a 
general assumption of state debts 2 Who could conceive of such 
a proposal? But there is a vast difference between our paying 
thei?^ debts for them, and paying ozw oivn debts to them, in con- 
fornuty with the trusts arising out of the public domain, which 
the general government is bound to execute. 

Language has been held in this chamber which would lead 
any one who heard it to believe that some gentlemen would take 
delight in seeing states dishonored and unable to pay their 
bonds. If such a feeUng does really exist, I trust it will find no 
sympathy with the people of this country, as it can have none 
in the breast of any honest man. When the honorable Senator 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Webster) the other day uttered, in such 
thrilling language, the sentiment that honor and probity bound 
the states to the faithful payment of all their debts, and that they 
would do it, I felt my bosom swelling with patriotic pride — pride, 
on account of the just and manly sentiment itself; and pride, on 
account of the beautiful and eloquent language in which that 
noble sentiment was clothed. Dishonor American credit ! Dis- 
honor the American name I Dishonor the whole country! Why, 
sir, what is national character, national credit, national honor, 
36 



422 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

national glory, but the aggregate of the character, the credit, 
the honor, the glory, of the parts of the nation ? Can the parts 
be dishonored, and the whole remain unsullied? Or can the 
whole be blemished, and the parts stand pure and vrntainted*? 
Can a younger sister be disgraced, without bringing blushes and 
shame upon the whole family? Can our young sister Illinois (I 
mention her only for illustration, but with all feelings and senti- 
ments of fraternal regard,) can she degrade her character as a 
state, without bringing reproach and obloquy upon all of us"? 
What has made England — our country's glorious parent — (al- 
though she has taught us the duty of eternal watchfulness, to 
repel aggression, and maintain our rights against even her) — 
what lias made England the wonder of the world? What has 
raised her to such pre-eminence in wealth, power, empire and 
greatness, at once the awe and the admiration of nations? Un- 
doubtedly, among the prominent causes, have been the preserva- 
tion of her credit, the maintenance of her honor, and the scru- 
pulous fidelity with which she has fulfilled her pecuniary engage- 
ments, foreign as well as domestic. An opposite example of a 
disregard of national faith and character presents itself in the 
pages of ancient history. Every schoolboy is familiar with the 
phrase "Punic faith," which at Rome became a by-word and a 
reproach against Carthage, in consequence of her notorious vio- 
lations of her public engagements. The stigma has been trans- 
mitted down to the present time, and will remain forever unef- 
faced. Who would not lament that a similar stigma should be 
affixed to any member of our confederacy? If there be any one 
so thoroughly imbued with party spirit, so destitute of honor and 
morality, so regardless of just feelings of national dignity and 
character, as to desire to see any of the states of this glorious 
Union dislionored, by violating their engagements to foreigners, 
and refusing to pay their just debts, I reptd and repudiate him and 
his sentiments as unworthy of the American name, as sentiments 
dishonest in themselves, and neither entertained nor approved 
by the people of the United States. 

Let us not be misunderstood, or our feelings and opinions be 
perverted. What is it that we ask? That this government 
shall assume the debts of the states? Oh ! no, no. The debts 
of Pennsylvania, for example? (who is, I believe, the most in- 
debted of all the states.) No, no; far Irom it. But seeing that 
this government has the power, and, as I think, is under a duty, 
to distribute the proceeds of the public lands, and that it has the 
power, which the states have not, to lay duties on foreign luxu- 
ries, we propose to make that distribution, pay our debt to the 
states, and save the states, to that extent at least, from tjie ne- 
cessity of resorting to direct taxation, the most onerous of all 
■modes of lev3ing money upon the people. We propose to sup- 
ply the deficiency produced from the withdrawal of the land fund 
by duties on luxuries, wliich the wcaltliy only will pay, and so 
far save the states from the necessity of burdening the poor. 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 423 

We propose that, by a just exercise of incontestable powers 
possessed by this government, we shall go to the succor of all 
the states, and, by a fair distribution of the proceeds of the pub- 
lic lands among them, avert, as far as that may avert, the ruin 
and dishonor with which some of lliem are menaced. We pro- 
pose, in short, such an administration of the powers of this gov- 
ernment as shall protect and relieve our common constituents 
from the embarrassments to which they may be exposed from 
the defects in the powers or in the administration of the state 
governments. 

Let us look a little more minutely at consequences. The dis- 
tributive share of the state of Illinois in the land proceeds would 
be, according to the present receipts from the public lands, 
about $100,000. We make distribution, and she receives it. 
To that extent it would then relieve her from direct taxation to 
meet the debt which she has contracted, or it Avould form the 
basis of new loans to an amount equal to about two millions. 
We refuse to make distribution. She must levy the hundred 
thousand dollars upon her population in the form of direct taxa- 
tion. And. if I am rightly informed, her chief source of revenue 
is a land tax. the most burdensome of all taxes. If I am misin- 
formed, the Senators from Illinois can correct me. 

[Here Messrs. Robinson and Young explained, stating that 
there was an additional source in a tax on the stock in the state 
bank.J 

Still the land tax is, as I had understood, the principal source 
of the revenue of Illinois. 

We make distribution, and, if necessary, we supply the defi- 
ciency which it produces by an impogition of duties on luxuries, 
which Illinois cannot tax. We refuse it, and, having no power 
herself to lay a duty on any foreign imports, she is compelled to 
resort to the most inconvenient and oppressive of all the modes 
of taxation. Every vote, therefore, Avhich is given against dis- 
tribution, is a vote, in effect, given to lay a land tax on the people 
of Illinois. Worse than that — it is a vote, in effect, refusing to 
tax the luxuries of the rich, and rendering inevitable the taxa- 
tion of the poor — that poor in whose behalf we hear, from the 
other side of the chamber, professions of such deep sympathy, 
interest and devotion ! In what attitude do gentlemen place 
themselves who oppose this measure — gentlemen who taunt us 
as the aristocracy, as the friends of the banks, &c. — gentlemen 
who claim to be the peculiar guardians of the democracy ? How 
do they treat the poor ? We have seen, at former sessions, a 
measure warmly espoused, and finally carried by them, which 
they represented would reduce the wages of labor. At this ses- 
sion, a tax, which would be borne exclusively by the rich, en- 
counters their opposition. And now we have proposed another 
mode of benefiting the poor, by distribution of the land proceeds, 
to prevent their being borne down and oppressed by direct taxa- 
tion; and this, too, is opposed from the same quarter! These 



424 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 

gentlemen will not consent to lay a tax on the luxuries of the 
affluent, and, by their votes, insist upon leaving the states under 
the necessity ot' imposing direct taxes on tlie I'armer, the labor- 
ing man, the poor, and all the while set up to be the exclusive 
friends of the poor ! [A general laugh.] Really, sir, the best 
friends appear to be the worst enemies of the poor, and their 
greatest enemies their best friends. 

The gentlemen opposed to us have frightened themselves, and 
have sought to alarm otliers, by imaginary dangers to spring 
from this measure of distribution. Corruption, it seems, is to be 
the order of the day ! If I did not misunderstand the Senator 
from South Carolina, he apprised us of the precise sum — one 
million of dollars — which was adecpiate to the corruption of his 
own state. He knows best about that ; but I should be sorry to 
think that fifty millions of dollars could corrupt my state. What 
may be the condition of South Carolina at this time I know not; 
there is so much tog enveloping the dominant party, that it is dif- 
ficult to discern her present latitude and longitude. What she 
was in her better days — in the days of herRuUedges, Pinckneys, 
Sumpters, Lowndeses, Cheveses — we all well know, and I will 
not inflict pain on the Senator by dwelling on it. It is not for 
me to vindicate her from a charge so degrading and humiliating. 
She has another Senator here, tar more able and eloquent than 
I am to defend her. Certainly I do not believe, and should be 
most unwilling to think, that her Senator had made a correct 
estimate of her moral power. 

It has been indeed said that our whole countrj'is corrupt; that 
the results of recent elections were brought about by fraudulent 
means ; and that a foreign influence has produced the great po- 
litical revolution which has just taken place. I pronounce that 
charge a gross, atrocious, treasonable libel on the people of this 
country, on the institutions of this country, and on liberty itself. 
I do not attribute this calumny to any member of this bodJ^ 
I hope there is hone who would give it the slightest counte- 
nance. But I do charge it upon some of the newspapers in 
the support of the otlier party. And it is remarkable that the 
very press which originates and propagates this foul calumny 
of foreign influence has indicated the right of unnaturalized 
foreigners to mingle, at the polls, in our elections; and main- 
tained the expediency of their owning portions of the soil of 
our country, before they have renounced their allegiance to for- 
eign sovereigns. 

I will not consume the time of the Senate in dwelling long up- 
on the idle and ridiculous story about the correspondence between 
the London bankers and some Missouri bankers — a correspon- 
dence which v;as kept safely until after the Presidential election, 
in the custody of the directors of what is vaunted as a genuine 
Locofoco bank in that state, when it was dragged out by a reso- 
lution of the Legislature, authorising the sending for persons and 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS, 425 

papers. It was then blazed forth as conclusive and damning 
evidence of the existence of a foreign influence in our Presiden- 
tial election. And what did it all nmount to ? These British 
bankers are really strange fellows. They are foolish enough to 
look to the safety of their money advanced to foreigners ! If they 
see a man going to ruin, they will not lend him ; and if they see 
a nation pursuing the same road, they are so unreasonable as to 
dechne vesting their funds in its bonds. If they find war threat- 
ened, they will speculate on the consequences; and they will in- 
dulge in conjectures about the future condition of a country in 
given contingencies ! Very strange ! They have seen — all the 
world is too familiar with — these embarrassments and distresses 
brought upon the people of the United States by the measures 
of Mr. Van Buren and his ihustrious predecessor. They conclude 
that, if he be re-elected, there will be no change of those meas- 
ures, and no better time;7 in the United States. On the contrary, 
if Gen. Harrison be elected, they argue that a sound currency 
may be restored, confidence return, and business once more be 
active and prosperous. They therefore tell their Missouri bank- 
ing correspondents that American bonds and stocks will continue 
to depreciate if Mr. Van Buren be re-elected ; but that, if his 
competitor should succeed, they will rise in value and sell more 
readily in the market. And these opinions and speculations of 
the English bankers, carefully concealed I'roni the vulgar gaze 
of the people, and locked up in the vaults of a Locofoco bank, 
(what wonders they ma}' have wrought tliere have not been dis- 
closed.) are dragged out and jjaraded as full proof of the corrupt 
exercise of a foreign influence in the election of Gen. Harrison 
as President of the United States. Why, sir, the amount of the 
whole of it is, that the gentlemen, calling themselves, most erro- 
neously, the Democratic party, have administered the govern- 
ment so badly, that they have lost all credit and confidence at 
home and abroad, and because the people of the United States 
have refused to trust them any longer, and foreign bankers will 
not trust them either, they utter a whining cry that their recent 
signal defeat has been the work of foreign influence ! 

[Loud laughter in the galleries.] 

Democratic party ! They liave not the slightest pretension to 
this denomination. In the school of 1798, in which I was taught, 
and to which I have ever faithfully adhered, we were instructed 
to be watchful and jealous of executive power, enjoined to prac- 
tice economy in the public disbursements, and urged to rally 
around the people, and not attach ourselves to the Presidential 
car. This was Jefferson's democracy. But the modern demo- 
crats, who have assumed the name, have reversed all these 
wholesome maxims, and have given to democracy a totally dif- 
ferent version. They have run it down, as they have run down, 
or at least endangered, state rights, the right of instruction — ad- 
mirable in their proper sphere — and all other rights, by perver- 
36* 



426 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE 

sion and extravagance. But, thank God, true democracy and 
irue democrats have not been run down. Thousands of those 
who have been deceived and deluded by false colors, will now 
eagerly return to their ancient faith, and unite, under Harrison's 
banner, with their old and genuine friends and principles, as they 
were held at the epoch of 1798. We shall, I trust, be all once 
more united as a fraternal band, ready to defend liberty against 
all dangers that may threaten it at home, and the country against 
all that shall menace it from abroad. 

But to return from this digression to the patriotic apprehension 
entertained by Senators of corruption, if the proceeds of the pub- 
lic lands should be distributed among the states. If, in the hands 
of the general government, the land fund does not lead to cor- 
ruption, why should it in tlie hands of the state governments ? — 
Is there less danger from the fund if it remain undivided and 
concentrated, than if it be distributed ? Are the state govern- 
ments more prone to corruption than the federal government? 
Are they more wasteful and extravagant in the expenditure of 
the money of the people ? 1 think that if we are to consult purity 
and econom}'', we shall find fresh motives for distribution. 

Mr. President, two plans of disposing of the vast public domain 
belonging to the United States have been, from time to time, sub- 
mitted to the consideration of Congress and the public. Accord- 
ing to one of them, it should not be regarded as a source of re- 
venue, either to the general or to the state government. That I 
have, I think, clearly demonstrated, altiiough the supporters of 
that plan do press the argument of revenue whenever the rival 
plan is brought Ibrward. They contend that the general gov- 
ernment, being unfit, or less competent than the state govern- 
ments, to manage the public lands, it ought to hasten to get rid 
of them, either by reduction of the price, by donation, by pre- 
emptions, or by cessions to certain states, or by all these meth- 
ods together. 

Now, sir, it is manifest that the public lands cannot be all set- 
tled in a century or centuries to come. The progress of their 
Bettlement is indicated by the growth of the population of the 
United States. There have not been, on an average, five mil- 
lions of acres per annum sold, during the last half century. — 
Larger quantities will be probably hereafter, although not imme- 
diately, annually sold. Now, when we recollect that we have at 
least a billion of acres to dispose of, some idea may be entertain- 
ed, judging from the past, of the probable length of time before 
the whole is sold. Prior to their sale and settlement, the unoc- 
cupied portion of the public domain must remain either in the 
hands of the general government or in the hands of the state go- 
vernments, or pass into the hands of speculators. In the handa 
of the general government, ii' that government shall perform its 
duty, we know that the public lands will be distributed on liberal, 
equal, and moderate terms. The worst fate that can befall them 
would be for them to be acquired by speculators. The emigrant 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 427 

and settler would always prefer purchasing from government, at 
fixed and known rates, rather than from the speculator, at un- 
known rates, fixed by his cupidity or caprice. But if they are 
transferred from the general government, the best of them will 
be engrossed by speculators. That is the inevitable tendency 
of reduction of the price by graduation, and of cession to the 
states within which they lie. 

The rival plan is for the general government to retain the pub- 
lic domain, and make distribution of the proceeds in time of peace 
among the several states, upon equal and just principles, accor- 
ding to the rule of federal numbers, and, in time of war, to resume 
the proceeds for its vigorous prosecution. We think that the ad- 
ministration of the public lands had better remain with the com- 
mon government, to be regulated by unilbrm principles, than 
confided to the states, to be administered according to various, 
and, perhaps, conflicting views. As to that important part of 
them which was ceded by certain states to the United States for 
the common benefit of all the states, a trust was thereby created 
which has been voluntarily accepted by the United States, and 
which they are not at liberty now to decline or transfer. The 
history of public lands held in the United States demonstrates 
that they have been wasted or thrown away by most of the states 
that oAvned any, and that the general government has displayed 
more judgment and wisdom in the administration of them than 
any of the states. Whilst it is readily admitted that revenue 
should not be regarded as the sole or exclusive object, the pecu- 
niary advantages which may be derived from this great national 
property to bolh the states and the Union ought not to be alto- 
gether overlooked. 

The measure which I have had the honor to propose settles 
this great and agitating question forever. It is founded upon no 
partial and unequal basis, aggrandizing a few of the states to 
the prejudice of the rest. It stands on a just, broad, and liberal 
foundation. It is a measure applicable not only to the states now 
in being, but to the territories, as states shall hereafter be formed 
out of them, and to all new states as they shall rise tier behind 
tier, to the Pacific ocean. It is a system operating upon a space 
almost boundless, and adapted to all future time. It was a noble 
spirit of harmony and union that prompted the revolutionary 
states originally to cede to the United States. How admirably 
does this measure conform to that spirit and tend to the perpetu- 
ity of our glorious Union ! The imagination can hardly conceive 
one fraught with more harmony and union among the states. If 
to the other ties that bind us together as one people be super- 
added the powerful interest springing out of a just administra- 
tion of our exhaustless public domain, by which, for a long suc- 
cession of ages, in seasons of peace, the states will enjoy the 
benefit of the great and growing revenue which it produces, and 
in periods of war that revenue will be applied to the prosecution 
of the war, we shall be forever linked together with the strength 



428 ON THE VETO OF THE 

of adamantine chains. No section, no state, would ever be mad 
enough to breaiv oti'lrom the Union, and deprive itself of the in- 
estimable advantages which it secures. Although thirty or 
forty more new slates should be admitted into this Union, this 
measure would cement them all fast together. The honorable 
senator from Missouri near me, (Mr. Linn,) is very anxious to 
have a settlement formed at the mouth of the Oregon, and he 
will probably be gratified at no very distant day. Then will be 
seen members of Congress from the Pacific states scaling the 
Rocky Mountains, passing through the country of the grizzly 
bear, descending the turbid Missouri, entering the father of 
rivers, ascending the beautiful Ohio, and coming to this Capitol, 
to take their seats in its spacious and magnificent halls. Proud 
of the commission tliey bear, and liappy to find themselves here 
in council with friends and brothers and countrymen, enjoying 
the incalculable benefits of this great confederacy, and among 
them their annual distributive share of the issues of a nation's 
inheritance, would even they, the remote people of the Pacific, 
ever desire to separate themselves from such a high and glorious 
destinjr ? The fund which is to be dedicated to these great and 
salutary purposes does not proceed from a few thousand acres 
of land, soon to he disposed of; but of more than ten hundred 
millions of acres; and age after age may roll away, state after 
state arise, generation succeed generation, and still the fund will 
remain not only unexhausted but improved and increasing, tor 
the benefit of our children's cliildren to the remotest posterity. 
The measure is not one pregnant with jealousy, discord, or di- 
vision, but it is a lar-reacliing, comprehensive, healing measure 
of compromise and composure, having for its patriotic object the 
harmony, the stability, and the prosperity of the states and of 
the Union. 



ON THE VETO OF THE BANK OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 

On the Executive Message containing the President's objections 

to the Bank BUI. 

In Senate of United States, August 19, 1841. 

Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, rose and addressed the Senate as fol- 
lows : Mr. President, the bill which forms the present subject of 
our deliberations had passed both Houses of Congress by de- 
cisive majorities, and, in conformity with the requirements of the 
constitution, was presented to the President of the United States 
for his consideration. He has retnrned it to the Senate, in 
which it originated, according to the directions of the constitu- 
tion, with a message annoimcing his veto of the bill, and con- 
taining his objections to its passage. And the question now to 



BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 429 

be decided is, — shall the bill pass, by the required constitutional 
majority of two-thirds, the President's objections notwithstanding. 

Knowing, sir, but too well that no such majority can be 
obtained, and that the bill must iall, 1 would have been re- 
joiced to have found myself at liberty to abstain from saying 
one Avord on this painful occasion. But the President has not 
allowed me to give a silent vote. I think, with all respect and 
deference to him, he has not reciprocated the friendly spirit of 
concession and compromise which animated Congress in the 
provisions of the bill, and especially in the modification of the 
sixteenth fundamental condition of the bank. He has comment- 
ed, I think, with undeserved severity on that part of the bill ; he 
has used, I am sure unintentionally, harsh, if not reproachful 
language; and he has made the very concession, which was 
prompted as a peace-offering, and from friendly considerations, 
the cause of stronger and more decided disapprobation of the 
bill. Standing in the relation to that bill which I do, and espe- 
cially to the exceptionable clause, the duty Avhich I owe to the 
Senate and to the country, and self-respect, impose upon me the 
obligation of at least attempting the vindication of a measure 
which has met with a fate so unmerited and so unexpected. 

On the fourth ot' April last, the lamented Harrison, the Presi- 
dent of the United States, paid the debt of nature. President 
Tyler, who, as Vice-President, succeeded to the duties of that 
office, arrived in the city of Washington on the 6th of that 
month. He found the whole metropolis wrapped in gloom, 
every heart filled with sorrow and sadness, every eye streaming 
with tears, and the surrounding hills yet flinging back the echoes 
of the bells which were tolled on that melancholy occasion. 
On entering the Presidential mansion he contemplated the pale 
body of his predecessor stretched before him, and clothed in the 
black habiliments of death. At that solemn moment I have no 
doubt that the lieart of President Tyler was overflowing with 
mingled emotions of grief, of patriotism, and of gratitude — above 
all, of gratitude to that country by a majority of whose suffrages, 
bestowed at the preceding November, he then stood the most 
distinguished, the most elevated, the most honored of all living 
Whigs of the United States. 

It was under these circumstances, and in this probable state 
of mind, that President Tyler, on the 10th day of the same 
month of A])ril, voluntarily, promulgated an address to the peo- 
ple of the United States. That address was in the nature of a 
coronation oath, which the Cliief of the state, in other countries, 
and under other Ibrm.s, takes, upon ascending the throne. It 
referred to the solemn obligations, and the profound sense of 
duty, under which the new President entered upon- the high 
trust which liad devolved upon him, by the joint acts of the peo- 
ple and of Providence, and it stated the principles and delineated 
the policy by which he would be governed in his exalted .station. 



430 ON THE VETO OF THE 

It was emphatically a Whig address, from beginning to end— 
every inch of it was Whig, and was patriotic. 

In that address the President, in respect to the subject-matter 
embraced in the present bill, held the following conclusive and 
emphatic language : '• I shall promptly give my sanction to any 
constitutional measure which, originating in Congress, shall have 
for its object the restoration of a sound circulating medium, so 
essentially necessary to give confidence in all the transactions of 
life, to secure to industry its jnst and adequate rewards, and to 
re-establish the public prosperity. In deciding upon the adapta- 
tion of any such measure to the end proposed, as well as its 
conformity to the constitution, I sliall resort to the fathers of the 
great Repiiblican school for advice and instruction, to be drawn 
Irom their sage views of our system of government, and the light 
of their ever glorions e.vample." 

To this clause in the address of the President, I believe but 
one interpretation was given throughout this whole country, by 
friend and foe, by Whig and Democrat, and by the presses of 
both parties. It was, by every man with whom I conversed on 
the subject at the time of its appearance, or of whom I have since 
inquired, construed to mean that the President intended to occu- 
py the Madison ground, and to regard the question of the power 
to establish a national bank as immovably settled. And I think 
1 may confidentlj^ appeal to the Senate, and to the country, to 
sustain the fact thai this was the contemporaneous and unani- 
mous judgment of the public. Reverting back to the period of 
the promulgation of the address, could any other construction 
have been given to its language? What is it '? " I shall prompt- 
ly give my sanction to any constitutional measure which, oHgi- 
nating in Congress,'^ shall have defined objects in view. He 
concedes the vital importance of a souud circulating medium to 
industry and to the public prosperity. He concedes that its ori- 
gin must be in Congress. And, to prevent any inference from 
the qualification, which he prefixes to the measure, being inter- 
preted to mean that a United States Bank was unconstitutional, 
he declares that, in deciding on the adaptation of the measure 
to the end proposed, and its conformity to the constitution, he 
will resort to the fathers of the great repubhcan school. And 
who were they? If the father of his country is to be excluded, 
are Madison, (the father of the constitution,) Jeiferson, Monroe, 
Gerry, Gallatin, and the long list of republicans Avho acted with 
tliem, not to be regarded as among those fathers? But Presi- 
dent Tyler declares that he shall not look to the principles and 
creed of the republican lathers for advice and instruction, but to 
the light of their ever glorious example. What example ? — 
What other meaning could have been possibly applied to tlie 
phrase, than that he intended to refer to what had been done 
during the administration of Jeiferson, Madison and Monroe? 

Entertaining this opinion of the address, I came to Washing- 
ton, at the commejicement of the session, with the most confident 



BANK OP THE UNITED STATES. 431 

and buoyant hopes that the Whigs would be able to carry all 
their prominent measures, and especially a bank of the United 
States, by far that one of the greatest immediate importance. 
I anticipated nothing but cordial co-operation between the two 
departments of government; and I reflected with pleasure that I 
should find, at the head of the Executive branch, a personal and 
political friend, whom I had long and intimately known, and 
highly esteemed. It will not be my fault if our amicable rela- 
tions should unhappily cease, in consequence of any difference 
of opinion between us on this occasion. The President has 
been always perfectly familiar with my opinion on this bank 
question. 

Upon the opening of the session, but especially on the receipt 
of the plan of a national bank, as proposed by the Secretary of 
the Treasury, fears were excited that the President had been 
misunderstood in his address, and that he had not waived but 
adhered to his constitutional scruples. Under these circum- 
stances it was hoped that, by the indulgence of a mutual spirit 
of compromise and concession, a bank, competent to fulfil the 
expectations and satisfy the wants of the people, might be estab- 
lished. 

Under tne influence of that spirit, the Senate and the House 
agreed, first, as to the name of the proposed bank. I confess, 
sir, that there was something exceedingly oulree and revolting 
to my ears in the term " Fiscal Banlc," but I thought, " What is 
there in a name ? A rose, by any other name, would smell as 
sweet." Looking therefore, ratlier to the utility of the substan- 
tial faculties than to the name of the contemplated institution, we 
consented to that which was proposed. 

2d. As to the place of location of the bank. Although Wash- 
ington had passed through my mind as among the cities in 
Avhich it might be expedient to place the bank, it was believed 
to be the least eligible of some four or five other cities. Never- 
theless we consented to fix it here. 

And lastly, in respect to the branching power, there was not 
probably a solitary vote, given in either house of Congress, for 
die bill, that did "not greatly prefer the unqualified branching 
power, as asserted in the charters of the two former banks of the 
United States, to the sixteenth fundamental condition, as finally 
incorporated in this bill. It is perfectly manifest, therefore, that 
it was not in conformity with the opinion and wish of majorities 
in Congress, but in a friendly spirit of concession towards the 
President and his particular friends, that the clause assumed that 
form. So repugnant was it to some of the best friends of a na- 
tional bank in the other House, that they finally voted against 
the bill because it contained the compromise oi' the branching 
power. 

It is true that, in presenting the compromise to the Senate, I 
stated, as was the fact, that I did not know whether it would jje 



43S ON THE VETO OF THE 

acceptable to the President or not; that, according to my opm- 
ion, each department of the government should act upon its own 
responsibih'ty, independent!}^ oi' the other ; and that I presented 
the modification of the branching power because it was necessary 
to ensure the passage of the bill in the Senate, liaving ascertain- 
ed that the vote would stand twenty-six against it to twenty-five, 
if the form of that power which had been reported by the commit- 
tee were persisted in. But I nevertheless did entertain the most 
confident hopes and expectations that the bill would receive the 
sanction of the President; and this motive, although not the im- 
mediate one, I'.ad great weight in the introduction and adoption 
of the compromise clause. I knew that our friends who Avould 
not vote for the bill as reported were actuated, as they avowed, 
by considerations of union and harmony, growing out of sup- 
posed views of the President, and I presumed that he would not 
fail to feel and appreciate their sacrifices. But I deeply regret 
that we were mistaken. Notwithstanding all our concessions, 
made in a genuine and sincere spirit of conciliation, the sanction 
of the President could not be obtained, and the bill has been re- 
turned by lu'm with his objections. 

And I shall now proceed to consider those objections, with as 
much brevity as possible, but with the most perfect respect, 
official and personal, towards the Chief Magistrate. 

Al'ter stating that the power of Congress to establish a na- 
tional bank, to operate per se, has been a controverted question 
from the origin of the government, the President remarks, "Men 
most justly and deservedly esteemed for their high intellectual 
endowments, their virtue and 'heir patriotism, have, in regard to 
it, entertained ■<htrerent and confiicting o])inions. Congresses 
have differed. The approval of one President has been followed 
by the disapproval of another." 

From this statement of the case it may be inferred that the 
President considers the weight of authority, pro and con, to be 
equal and balanced. But if he intended to make such an array 
of it — if he intended to say that it was in equilibrium — I most 
respectfully, but most decidedly, dissent from him. I think the 
conjoint testimony of history, tradition, and the knowledge of 
living witnesses prove the contrary. How stands the question 
as to the opinions of Contrresses '? The Congress of 1791, the 
Congress of 1813-14, the Congress of 1815-16, the Congress of 
1831-32, and, finally, the present Congress, have all respectively 
and unequivocally, aifirmed the existence of a power in Congress, 
to establish a national bank, to operate per se. We behold, then, 
the concurrent opinion of five different Congresses on one side. 
And what Congress is there on the opposite side? The Con- 
gress of 1811? I was a member of the Senate in that year, 
when it decided, by the casting vote of the Vice-President, 
against the renewal of the charter of the old bank of the United 
States. And I now here, in my place, add to the testimon)'' 
already before the public, by declaring that it is within my cer- 



BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 433 

tain knowledge, that that decision of the Senate did not proceed 
from a disbeHef of a majority of the Senate in the power of Con- 
gress to establish a national bank, but Irom combined considera- 
tions of inexpediency and constitutionality. A majority of the 
Senate, on tiie contrary, as I know, entertained no doubt as to 
the power of Congress. Thus the account, as to the Con- 
gresses, stands five lor, and not one, or at most, not more than 
one, against tlie power. 

Let us now look into the state of authority derivable from the 
opinions of Presidents of the United States. President Wash- 
ington believed in the power of Congress, and approved a bank 
bill. President Jefferson approved acts to extend branches into 
other parts of the United States, and to punish counterfeiters of 
the notes of the bank — acts whicli were devoid of all justifica- 
tion whatever upon the assumption of the unconstitutionality of 
the bank. For how could branches be extended or punishment 
be lawfully inflicted upon the counterfeiters of the paper of a 
corporation which came into existence without any authority, 
and in violation of the constitution of the land ? James Madison, 
notwithstanding those early scruples which he had entertained, 
and which he probably still cherished, sanctioned and signed a 
bill to charter the late bank of the United States. It is perfectly 
■well known that Mr. Munroe never did entertain any scrui:)les or 
doubts in regard to the power of Congress. Here, then, are 
four Presidents of the United States, who have directly or col- 
laterally borne official testimony to the existence of the bank 
power in Congress. And what President is there that ever 
bore unequivocally opposite testimony — that disapproved a bank 
charter in the sense intended by President; Tyler ? Gen. Jack- 
son, although he did apply the veto power to the bill for re- 
chartering the late bank of the United States in 1832, it is with- 
in the perfect recollection of us all that he not only testified to 
tlie utility of a bank of the United States, but declared that, if 
he had been applied to by Congress, he could have furnished 
the plan of such a bank. 

Thus, Mr. President, we perceive that, in reviewing the action 
cf the legislative and executive departments of the government, 
there is a vast preponderance of the weight of authority main- 
taining the existence of the power in Congress. But President 
Tyler has, I presume unintentionally, wholly omitted to notice 
the judgment and decisions of the third co-ordinate department 
of the government upon this controverted question — that depart- 
ment, whose interpretations of the constitution, within its proper 
jurisdiction and sphere of action, are binding upon all ; and 
which, therefore, may be considered as exercising a controlling 
power over both the other departments. The Supreme Court 
of the United States, with its late chief justice, the illustrious 
Marshall, at its head, unanimously decided that Congress pos- 
sessed this bank pcwerj and this adjudication was sustained 
37 



434 ON THE VETO OF THE 

and re-affirmed whenever afterwards the question arose belbrfl 
the court. 

After recounting the occasions, during liis public career, on 
which he had expressed an opinion against the power of Con- 
gress to charter a bank of the United Slates, the President pro- 
ceeds to say: " Entertaining the opinions alluded to, and having 
taken this oath, the Senate, and the country will see that I could 
not give my sanction to a measure of tlie character described 
without surrendering all claim to the respect of honorable men 
— all confidence on the part of the people — all self-respect — all 
regard for moral and religions obligaiious ; without an obser- 
vance of which no government can be prosperous, and no peo- 
ple can be happy. It would be to commit a crime which 1 
would not wilfully commit to gain any earthly reward, and 
which would justly subject me to the ridicule and scorn of all 
virtuous men." 

Mr. President, I must think, and hope I may be allowed to 
say, with profound deference to the chief magistrate, that it ap- 
pears to me he has viewed with too lively sensibility die personal 
consequences to himself of his approval of the bill ; and that, 
surrendering himself to a vivid imagination, he has depicted 
them in much too glowing and exaggerated colors, and that it 
would have been most happy if he had looked more to the de- 
plorable consequences of a veto upon the hopes, the interests, 
and the happiness of his country. Does it follow that a magis- 
trate who yields his private juilgment to the concurring authori- 
ty of numerous decisions, repeatedly and deliberately pro- 
nounced, after the lapse of long intervals, by all the departments 
of government, and by all parties, incurs the dreadlul penalties 
described by the President ? Can any man be disgraced and 
dishonored who yields his private opinion to the judgment of the 
nation? In this case, the country, (I mean a majority,) Con- 
gress, and according to common fame, an unanimous cabinet, 
were all united in lavor of the bill. Should any man feel him- 
self humbled and degraded in yielding to the conjoint force of 
such high authority 1 Does any man, who at one period of his 
life shall have expressed a particular opinion, and at a subse- 
quent period shall act upon the opposite opinion, expose himself 
to the terrible consequences which have been portrayed by the 
President? How is it with the judge, in tlie case by no means 
rare, who bows to the authority of repeated precedents, settling 
a particular question, whilst in his private judgment tiie law was 
odierwise? How is it with that numerous class of public men 
in this country, and with the two great parlies that have divided 
it, who, at dlHierent periods, have maintained and acted on op- 
posite opinions in respect to this very bank question ? 

How is it with James Madison, tlie father of the constitution — 
that great man whose services to his country placed him only 
second to Washington — whose virtues and purity in private lile 
— whose patriotism, intelligence, and wisdom in public councils 



BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 435 

etand unsurpassed ? He Avas a member of the national conven- 
tion that formed, and of the Virginia convention that adopted 
the constitution. No man understood it better than he did. He 
was opposed in 1791 to the estabUshment of the bank of the 
United States upon constitutional ground; and in 1816 he ap- 
proved and signed the charter of the late bank of the United 
States. It is a part of the secret history connected with the first 
bank, that James Madison had, at the instance of General Wash- 
ington, prepared a veto for him in the contingency of his rejec- 
tion of the bill. Thus stood James Madison when, in 1815, he 
applied the veto to a bill to charter a bank upon considerations 
of expediency, but with a clear and express admission of the 
existence of a constitutional power in Congress to charter one. 
In 1S16, the bill which was then presented to him being free 
from the objections applicable to that of the previous year, he 
sanctioned and signed it. Did James Madison surrender "all 
claim to the respect of honorable men — all confidence on the 

f)art of the people — all selt-respect — all regard for moral and re- 
igious obligations ?" Did the pure, the virtuous, the gifted 
James Madison, by his sanction and signature to the charter 
of the late bank of the United States, commit a crime which 
justly subjected him "to the ridicule and scorn of all virtuous 
men ?" 

Not only did the President, as it respectfully appears to me, 
state entirely too strongly the consequences of his approval of 
the bill, but is he perfectly correct in treating the question, (as 
he seems to me to have done,) which he was called upon to de- 
cide, as presenting the sole alternative of his direct approval or 
rejection of the bill? Was the preservation of the consistency 
and the conscience of the President wholly irreconcilable with 
the restoration of the blessings of a sound currency, regular and 
moderate exchanges, and the revival of confidence and business 
which Congress believes will be secured by a national bank ! — 
Was there no alternative but to prolong the sufferings of a 
bleeding country, or to send us this veto ! From the adminis- 
tration of the executive department of the government, during 
the last twelve years, has sprung most of the public ills which 
have afflicted the people. Was it necessary that that source of 
suffering should continue to operate, in order to preserve the 
conscience of the President unviolated? Was tiiat the only sad 
and deplorable alternative ? I think, Mr. President, there were 
other alternatives worthy of the serious and patriotic considera- 
tion of the President. The bill might have become a law, in vir- 
tue of the provision which required its return within ten days. 
If the President had retained it three days longer, it would have 
been a law, without his sanction and without his signature. In 
such a contingency, the President would have remained passive, 
and would not have been liable to any accusation of havingr 
himself violated the constitution. All that could have been just- 
ly said would be, that he did not choose to throw himself in the 



436 ON THE VETO OF THE 

way as an obstacle to the passage of a measure indispensable to 
the prosperity of the nation, in the judgment of the party which 
brought him into power, of the Whig Congress which lie first 
met, and, if public fame speaks true, of the cabinet which the 
lamented Harrison called around hiin, and whicli he voluntarily 
continued. In an analogous case, Thomas McKean, when gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania, than whom the United States have pro- 
duced but kw men of equal vigor of mind and firmness of pur- 
pose, permitted a bill to become a law, although, in his opin- 
ion, it was contrary to the constitution of that state. And, I 
have heard, and, from the creditable nature of the source, I am 
inchned to believe, although 1 will not vouch for the fact, that, 
towards the close of the charter of the first bank of the United 
States, during the second term of Mr. Jefferson, some considera- 
tion of the question of the renewal of the charter was entertained, 
and that he expressed a wish that, if the charter were renewed, 
it might be effected by the operalion of the ten days provision, 
and his consistency thus preserved. 

If it were possible to disinter the venerated remains of James 
Madison, reanimate his perishing form, and place him once more 
in that chair of state, which he so much adorned, what would 
have been his course, if this bill had been presented to him, even 
supposing him never to have announced his acquiescence in 
the settled judgment of the nation? He would Jiave said, that 
human controversy in regard to a single question should not be 
perpetual, and ought to have a termination. This, about the 
power to establish a bank of the United States, has been long 
enough continued. 

The nation, under all the forms of its public action, has often 
and deliberately decided it. A bank, and associated financial 
and currency questions, which had long slept, were revived, and 
have divided the nation during the last ten years of arduous and 
bitter struggle; and the party which put down the bank, and 
which occasioned all the disorders in our currency and finances, 
has itself been signally put down, by one of those moral and 
political revolutions which a free and patriotic people can but 
seldom arouse itself to make. Human infallibility has not been 
granted by God ; and the chances of error are much greater on 
the side of one man than on that of the majority of a whole peo- 
ple and their successive legislatures during a long period of 
time. I yield to the irresistable force of authority. I will not 
put myself in opposition to a measure so imperatively demanded 
by the public voice and so essential to elevate my depressed and 
suffering countrymen. 

And why should not President Tyler have suffered the bill to 
become a law without his signature ? Without meaning the 
sUghtest possible disrespect to him, — nothing is further from my 
heart than the exhibition of any such feeling towards that dis- 
tinguished citizen, long my personal friend — it cannot be forgot- 
ten that he came into his present office under peculiar circum- 



BANK OF THE UNITED STx\TES. 437 

etances. The people did not foresee the contingency which has 
happened. They voted for him as Vice-President. They did 
not, therefore, scrutinize his opinions with the care which they 
probably ought to have done, and would have done, if they 
could have looked into futurity. If the present state of the fact 
could have been anticipated — if at Harrisburg, or at the polls, it 
had been Jbreseen that General Harrison v/ould die in one short 
month after the commencement of his administration ; that Vice- 
President Tyler would be elevated to the presidential chair; that 
a bill, passed by decisive majorities of tire first Whig Congress, 
chartering a national bank, would be presented for hie sanction; 
and that he would veto the bill, do I hazard any thing when I 
express the conviction that he Avould not have received a solitary 
vote in the nominating convention, nor one solitary electoral vote 
in any state in the Union ? 

Shall I be told that the honor, the firmness, the independence 
of the Chief Magistrate might have been drawn in question if 
he had remained passive, and so permitted the bill to become a 
law? I answer that the office of Chief Magistrate is a sacred 
and exalted trust, created and conferred for the benefit of the 
nation, and not for the private advantage of the person who fills 
it Can any man's reputation for firmness, independence, and 
honor, be of more impcrtance than the welfare of a great peo- 
ple? There is nothing, in my humble judgment, in such a 
course, incompatible with honor, with, firmness, with indepen- 
dence properly understood. 

Certainly, I must respectfully think in reference to a measure 
like this, recommended by such high sanctions — by five Con- 
gresses — by the authority of Ibqr Presidents — by repeated decis- 
ions of the Supreme Court — by the acquiescence and judgment 
of the people of the United States during long periods of time — 
by its salutary operation on the interests of the community for a 
space of forty years, and demanded by the people whose suffrages 
placed President Tyler in that second ofllce, from whence he 
was translated to the first, that he might have suppressed the 
promptings of all personal pride of private opinion, if any arise 
in his bosom, and yielded to the wishes and wants of his coun- 
try. Nor do I believe that, ijj such a course, he Avould have 
made the smallest sacrifice, in t. just sense, of personal honor, 
firmness, or independence. 

But, sir, there was still a third alternative, to which I allude, 
not because I mean to intimate that it should be embraced, but 
because I am reminded of it by a memorable event in the life 
of President Tyler. It will be recollected that, after the Senate 
had passed the resolution declaring the removal of the public 
deposites from the late bank of the United States to have been 
derogatory from the constitution and laws of the United States, 
for which resolution President, then Senator Tyler, had voted, 
the General Assembly of Virginia instructed the Senators from 
37* 



433 ON THE VETO OP THE 

that state to vote for the expunging of that resohition. Senator 
Tyler declined voting in conformity* with that instruction, and 
resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States. This he 
did because he could not conform, and did not think it right to 
go counter, to the wishes of those wlio had placed him in the 
Senate, if, when the people of Virginia were his only con- 
stituency, he would not set up his own particular opinion in 
opposition to theirs, what ought to be the rule of his conduct 
wliea the people of twenty-six states — a whole nation — compose 
his constituency? Is the will of the constituency of one state to 
be respected, and that of twenty-six to be wholly disregarded? 
Is obedience due only to the single state of Virginia? The 
President admits that the bank question deeply agitated and 
continues to agitate the nation. It is incontestable that it was 
the great, absorbing, and controlling question, in all our recent 
divisions and exertions. I am firmly convinced, and it is my 
deliberate judgment, that an immense majority, not less than 
two-thirds of the nation, desire such an institution. All doubts 
in this respect ought to be dispelled by the recent decisions of the 
two Houses of Congress. I speak of them as evidence of the 
popular opinion. In the House of Representatives, the majority 
was 131 to 100. If the House had been full, and but for the 
modification of the 16th fundamental condition, there would have 
been a probable majority of 47. Is it to be believed that this 
large majority of the immediate representatives of the people, 
fresh from amongst them, and to whom the President seemed 
inclined, in his opening message, to refer this very question, have 
jnistaken the wishes of their constituents? 

I pass to the sixteenth fundamental condition, in respect to the 
branching power, on which I regret to feel myself obliged to say 
that I think the President has commented with unexampled severi- 
ty, and with a harshness of language not favorable to the main- 
tenance of that friendly and harmonious intercourse which is so 
desirable between co-ordinate departments of the government. 
The President could not have been uninformed that every one 
of the tvv^enty-six Senators, and every one of the hundred and 
thirty-one Representatives who voted for the bill, if left to his 
own separate wishes, would have preferred the branching power 
to have been conferred unconditionally, as it was in the charters 
of the tvv'o former banks of the United States. In consenting to 
the restrictions upon the exercise of that power, he must have 
been perfectly aware that they were actuated by a friendly 
spirit of compromise and concession. Yet no Avhere in his mes- 
sage docs he reciprocate or return this spirit. Speaking of the 
assent or dissent which the clause requires, he says: "This 
IRON rule is to give way to no circunit^tances — it is unbending 
and inflexible. It is the language of the master to the vassal. 
An unconditional answer is claimed forthwith." The "high 
privilege" of a submission, of the question, on the part of the 
State Representatives, to their constituents, according to the 



BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 439 

message, is denied. He puts the cases of the popular branch 
of a State Legislature expressing its dissent " by a unanimous 
vote, and its resolution n^ay be defeated by a tie vote in the 
Senate," and "both branches of the Legislature may concur in 
a resolution of decided a.ssent, and yet the Governor may exert 
the veto power conferred on him by the state constitution, and 
their legislative action be defeated." "The state may after- 
wards protoi against such unjust inference, but its authority js 
gone." The President continues : " To inferences so violent, 
and, as they seem to me, irrational, I cannot yield my consent. 
No court of justice would or could sanction them, without re- 
versing all that is established in judicial proceeding, by intro- 
ducing presumptions at variance with fact, and inferences at 
the expense of reason. A state in a condition of duresse would 
be presumed to speak as an individual, manacled and in prison, 
might be presumed to be in the enjoyment of freedom. Far 
better to say to the states, boldly and frankly, Congress wills, 
and submission is demanded.'''' 

Now, Mr. President, I Avill not ask Avhether these animadver- 
eions were prompted by a reciprocal spirit of amity and kind- 
ness, but I inquire whether all of them are perfectly just. 

Beyond all question, those who believed in the constitutional 
right of Congress to exercise the branching power within the 
states, unconditionally and without limitation, did make no small 
concession when they consented that it should be subjected to 
the restrictions specified in the compromise clause. They did 
not, it is true, concede every thing; they did not absolutely re- 
nounce the power to establish branches without the authority 
of the states during the whole period of the existence of the 
charter; but they did agree that reasonable time should be al- 
lowed to the several states to determine whether they would or 
would not give their assent to the establishment of branches 
within their respective limits. They did not think it right to 
leave it an open question, for the space of twenty years, nor that 
a state should be permitted to grant to-day and revoke to-mor- 
row its assent; nor that it should annex onerous or impracticable 
conditions to its assent, but that it should definitely decide the 
question, after the lapse of ample time for full deliberation. And 
what was that time? No state would have had less than four 
months, and some of them from five to nine months, for conside- 
ration. Was it, therefore, eutirelj' correct for the President to say 
that an " unconditional answer is claimed forihwiih ?" Forth- 
with means immediately, instantly, without delay, which cannot 
be affirmed of a space of time varying from four to nine months^ 
And the President supposes that the "high privilege" of the 
members of the State Legislature submitting the question to 
their constituents is denied ! But could they not at any time 
during that space have consulted their constituents? 

The President proceeds to put what I must, with the greatest 
deference and respect, consider as extreme cases. He supposes 



440 ON THE VETO OP THE 

the popular branch to express its dissent by a unanimous vote, 
which it overruled by a tie in the Senate. He supposes that 
"both branches of the Legislature may concur in a resolution 
of decided dissent, and yet the Governor may exert the veto 
power." The unfortunate case of the state whose legislative 
will should be so checked by executive authority, would not be 
worse than that of the Union, the will of whose Legislature, in 
establishing this bank, is checked and controlled by the Presi- 
dent. 

But did it not occur to him that extreme cases brought for- 
ward on the one side, might be met by extreme cases suggested 
on the other? Suppose the popular branch were to express its 
assent to the establishment of a branch bank by a unanimous 
Tote, which is overruled by an equal vote in the Senate. Or 
Kuppose that both branches of the Legislature, by majorities in 
each exactly wanting one vote to make them two-thirds, were to 
concur in a resolution inviting the introduction of a branch within 
the limits of the state, and the Governor were to exercise the 
veto power and defeat the resolution. Would it be very unrea- 
sonable in these two cases to infer the assent of the state to the 
establishment of a branch? 

Extreme cases should never be resorted to. Happily for man- 
kind, their afl'airs are but seldom affected or mfluenced by them, 
in consequence of the rarity of their occurrence. 

The plain, simple, unvarnished statement of the case is this : 
Congress believes itself invested with constitutional power to au- 
thorize, unconditionally, the establishment of a bank of the United 
States and branches, any where in the United States, without ask- 
ing any other consent of the states than that which is already 
expressed in the constitution. The President does not concur 
in the existence of that power, and was supposed to entertain 
an opinion that the previous assent of the states was necessary. 
Here was an unfortunate conflict of opinion. Here was a case 
for compromise and mutual concession, if the difference could 
be reconciled. Congress advanced so far towards the compro- 
mise as to allow the states to express their assent or dissent, but 
then it thought that this should be done within some limited but 
reasonable time; and it believed, since the bank and its branches 
were established for the benefit of twenty-six states, if the au- 
thorities of any one of them really could not make up their mind 
within that limited time either to assent or dissent to the intro- 
duction of a branch, that it was not unreasonable, after the lapse 
of the appointed time without any positive action, one way or 
the other, on tiie part of the state, to proceed as if it had assent- 
ed. Now, if tlie power contended lor by Congress really exists, 
it must be admitted that here was a concession — a concession, 
according to which an unconditional power is placed under tem- 
porary restrictions ; a privilege offered to the states which wa« 
not extended to them by either of the charters of two former 
banks of the United States. And I am totally at a loss to com- 



BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 441 

prehend how the President reached the conclusion that it would 
have been "far better to say to tlie states, boldly and frankly, 
Congress wills, and submission is denianded." Was it better 
for the states tiiat the power of hraiichino' should be exerted 
without consulting them at all? Was it nothing to afford them ' 
an opportunity of saying whether they desired branches or not? 
How can it be believed that a clause which quahfies, restricts 
and hmits the branching power, is more dL-rogatory from the 
dignity, independence and sovereignty of the states, than if it 
inexorably refused to the states any power whatever to delibe- 
rate and decide on the infrodu(-tiou of branches? Limited as 
the time was. and unconditionally as they were required to ex- 
press themselves, still those states (and that probably would 
have been the case with tiie greater number) that chose to an- 
nounce their assent or dissent could do so, and get or prevent 
the introduction of a branch. Eut the President remarks that 
"the state may express, after the most solemn tbrm of legisla- 
tion, its dissent, wliich may from time to time thereafter be re- 
pealed, in full view of its own interest, which can never be sepa- 
rated from the wise and beneficent operation of this govern- 
ment; and yet Congress may, by virtue ol'tlie last proviso, over- 
rule its law. and upon grounds whicii, to such state, will appear 
to rest on a constructive necessity and propriety, and nothing 
more." 

Even if the dissent of a state should be overruled, in the man- 
ner supposed by the President, how is ihc condition of that state 
worse than it would have been if the branching power had been 
absolutely and unconditionally asserted in the cliarter? There 
would have been at least the power of dissenting conceded, v/ilh 
a high degree of probability that if tlie dissent Avere expressed, 
no branch would be introduced. 

The last proviso to which the President refers is in these 
words: "And provided, nevertheless. That whenever it shall be- 
come necessary and proper for carrying into execution any of 
the powers granted by the constitution to establish an office or 
offices in any of the states whatever, and the establishment there- 
of shall be directed by law, it shall be the duty of the said direc- 
tors to establish such office or offices accordingly." 

This proviso was intended to reserve a power to Congress to 
compel the bank to establish branches, if the establishment of 
them should be necessary to the great purposes of this govern- 
ment, notwithstanding the dissent of a slate. If, for example, a 
state had once unconditionally dissented to the establishment of 
a branch, and afterwards assented, the bank could not have been 
compelled, without this reservation of power, to establish the 
branch, however urgent the wants of the treasury might be. 

The President, I tliink, ought to have seen in the form and lan- 
guage of the proviso, the spirit of conciliation in which it was 
drawn, as I know. Ii; does not assert the power; it employs the 
language of the constitution ilselt) leaving every one free to iu^ 



^ ON THE VETO OP THE 

terpret that language according to his own sense of the instro^ 
Kient. 

Why was it deemed necessary 10 speak of its being "the lant- 
guage of the master 10 the vassal,'' of '• this iron rule," that " Con- 
gress wills and submission is demanded ?" What is this whole 
federal governmei't but a mass of powers abstracted from the 
sovereignty of the several states, and wielded by an organized 
government for their common defence and general welfare, ac- 
cording to the grants of the constitulion? These powers are ne- 
cessarily supreme; the constitulion, the acts of Congress, and 
treaties being so declared by the express words of the constitu- 
tion. Whenever, therefore, this government acts within the pow- 
ers granted to it. by the constitution, submission and obedience 
are due from all; trom states as well as from persons. And if 
this present the image ol" a master and a vassal, of state subjec- 
tion and Congressional domination, it is the constitulion, created 
or consented to by the slates, that ordains these relations, nor 
can it be said, in the contingency supposed, that an act of Con- 
gress has repealed an act of state legislation. Undoubtedly in 
case of a conflict between a state constitution or state law, and 
the constitution of the United Slates or an act of Congress pass- 
ed in pursuance of it, the stale constitution or stale law would 
yield. But it could not at least be formally or technically said 
that the state constitution or law was repealed. Its operation 
would be suspended or abrogated by ihe necessary predominance 
of the paramount authority. 

The President seems to have regarded as objectionable that 
provision in the clnuse which declares that a branch, being once 
established, it shoulil not alterwards be withdrawn or removed 
without the previous consent of Congress. That provision was 
intended to operate both upon the bank and the states. And, 
considering the changes and fluctuations in public sentiment in 
some of the states within the last few j-ears, was the security 
against them to be found in that provision, unreasonable? One 
legislature might invite a branch, which the next might attempt, 
by penal or other legislation, to drive away. We have had such 
examples heretofore ; and I cannot think that it was unwise to 
profit by experience. Besides, an exactly similar provision was 
contained in the scheme of a bank which was reported by tlie 
Secretary of the Treasury, and to which it was understood the 
President had given his assent. But if I understand this mes- 
sage, that scheme could not have obtained his sanction, if Con- 
gress had passed it without any alteration whatever. It autho- 
rised, what is termed by the President, local discounts, and he does 
not believe the constitution confers on Congress power to estab- 
lish a bank having that faculty. He says, indeed, " I regard the 
bill as asserting for Congress the right to incorporate a United 
States Bank, with power and right to establish offices of discount 
and deposile in the several states of this Union, with or withoiU 
their consent ; a 2)rinciple to which I have always fieretofore bee* 



BANK OP THE UNITED STATES. 443 

opposBd, and which can never obtain my sanction." I pass with 

Eleasure from this painful theme ; deeply regretting that I have 
een constrained so long to dwell on it. 

On a former occasion I stated that, in the event of an unfortu- 
nate difference of opinion between the legislaive and executive 
departments, the point of difference might be developed, and it 
would be then seen whether they could be brought to coincide in 
any measure corresponding with the public hopes and expecta- 
tions. I regret that the President has not, in this message, fa- 
vored us witli a more clear and explicit exhibition of his views. 
It is sufficiently manifest that he is decidedly opposed to the es- 
tablishment of a new bank of the United States, formed after the 
two old models. I think it is fairly to be inferred that the plan 
of the Secretary of the Treasury could not have received his 
sanction. He is opposed to the passage of the bill which he has 
returned ; but whether he would give his approbation to any 
bank, and if any, what sort of a bank, is not absolutely clear. I 
think it may be collected from the message, with the aid of in- 
formation derived through other sources, that the President would 
concur in the establishment of a bank whose operations should 
be limited to dealing in bills of exchange, to deposites, and to the 
supply of a circulation, excluding the power of discounting pro- 
missory notes. And I understand that some of our friends are 
now considering the practicability of arranging and passing a 
bill in conlbrmity with the views of President Ty^^'"- Whilst 1 
regret that I can take no active part in such an experiment, and 
must reserve to myself the right of determining whether I can 
or cannot vote lor such a bill after I see it in its matured form, I 
assure my friends that they shall find no obstacle or impediment 
in me. On the contrary, I say to them, go on; God speed you 
in any measure which will serve the country, and preserve or 
restore harmony and concert between the departments of gov- 
ernment. An executive veto of a bank of the United States, af- 
ter the sad experience of late years, is an event which was not 
anticipated by the political friends of the President; certainly not 
by me. But it has come upon us with tremendous weight, and 
amidst the greatest excitement within and without the metropo- 
lis. The question now is, What shall be done ? What, under 
this most embarrassing and unexpected state of things, will our 
constituents expect of us? What is required by the duty and 
the dignity of Congress? I repeat that if, after a careful exami- 
nation of the executive message, a bank can be devised which 
will afford any remedy to existing evils, and secure the Presi- 
dent's approbation, let the project of such a bank be presented. 
It shall encounter no opposition, if it should receive no support, 
from me. 

But what further shall we do ? Never since I have enjoyed 
the honor of participating in the public councils of the nation — 
a period now of near thirty-five years — have I met Congress 
under more happy or more favorable auspices. Never have I 



444 ON THE VETO OP THE 

seen a House of Representatives animated by more patriotic dis- 
positions — more united, more determined, more business-like. — 
Not even that house which declared war in 1812 ; nor that which 
in 1815-16, laid broad and deep foundations cf national prosperi- 
ty, in adequate provisions for a sound currency, by the establish- 
ment of a bank of the United States, for the payment, of the na- 
tional debt, and for the protection of American industry. This 
house has solved the problem of the competency of a large de- 
liberative body to transact the public business. If happily there 
had existed a concurrence of opinion and cordial co-operation 
between the difl'erejit departmenls of the government, and all the 
members of the party, we should have carried every measure 
contemplated at tlie extra session, which the people had a right 
to expect from our pledges, and should have been, by this time, 
at our respective homes. We are disappointed in one, and an 
important one, of that series of measures; but shall we therefore 
despair? Shall we abandon ourselves to unv/orthy feelings and 
sentiments? Shall we allow ourselves to be transported by rash 
and intemperate passions and counsels ? Shall we adjourn and 
go home in disgust ? No ! No ! No ! A higher, nobler, and 
more patriotic career lies before us. Let us here, at the east end 
of Pennsylvania avenue, do our dut}^, our Avhoie duty, and noth- 
ing short of our duty, towards our common country. We have 
repealed the Sub-Treasury. We have passed a bankrupt law, 
a beneficent measure of substantial and extensive relief. Let 
us now pass the bill for the distribulion of the proceeds of the 
public lands ; the revenue bill, and the bill for the benefit of the 
oppressed people of the district. Let us do all — let us do every 
thing we can i'or the public good. If we are finally to be disap- 
pointed in our hopes of giving to the country a bank which will 
once more supply it with a sound currency, still let us go home 
and tell our constituents that we did all that we coidd under ac- 
tual circum.stances ; and that, if we did not carry every measure 
for their relief, it was only because to do so was impossible. If 
nothing can be done at this extra session to put upon a more sta- 
ble and satisfactory basis the currency o.nd exchanges of the 
country, let us hope that hereafler some way will be found to 
accomplish that most desirable object, either by an amendment 
of the constitution, limiting and qualifying ihe enormous execu- 
tive power, and especially the veto, or by increased majorities in 
the two houses of Congress, competent to the passage of wise 
and salutary laws, the President's objections notwithstanding. 
This seems to me to be the course now incumbent upon us to 

fmrsue; and, by conforming to it, Avhatever may be the result of 
audable endeavors now in progress or in contemplation, in rela- 
tion to a new attempt to establish a bank, we shall go home, 
bearing no self-reproaches for neglected or abandoned duties. 



IN REJOINDER TO MR. RIVES. 445 



ON THE BANK VETO, 

In reply to the speech of Mr. Rives, of Virginia, on the Execu- 
tive Message containing the Presidenfs objections to the Bank 
BiU. 

In Senate of United Slates, August 19, 1841. 

Mr. Rives having concluded his remarks — 

Mr. Clay rose in rejoinder. I have no desire, said he, to pro- 
long this unpleasant discussion, but I must say that I heard with 
great surprise and regret the closing remark, especially, of the 
honorable gentleman from Virginia, as, indeed, I did many of 
those which preceded it. That gentleman stands in a peculiar 
situation. I found him several years ago in the half-way house, 
where he seems afraid to remain, and from which he is yet un- 
wilHng to go. I had thought, after the thorough riddling which 
the roof of the house had received in the brealdng up of the pet 
bank system, he would have fled some where else for refuge ; 
but there he still stands, sohtary and alone, shivering and pelted 
by the pitiless storm. The Sub-Treasury is repealed — the pet 
bank system is abandoned — the United States Bank Bill is vetoed 
— and now, when there is as complete and perfect a re-union of 
tlie purse and the sword in the hands of the Executive as ever 
there was under Gen. Jackson or Mr. Van Buren, the senator ia 
for doing nothing ! The senator is for going home, leaving the 
treasury and the country in their lawless condition ! Yet no 
man has heretofore, more than he has, deplored and deprecated 
a state of things so utterly unsafe, and repugnant to all just pre- 
cautions, indicated alike by sound theory and experience in free 
governments. And the senator talks to us about applying to the 
wisdom of practical men, in respect to banking, and advises fur- 
ther deliberation ! Why, I should suppose that we are at present 
in the very best situation to act upon the subject. Besides the 
many painful years we have had lor deliberation, we have been 
near three months almost exclusively engrossed with the very 
subject itself We have heard all manner of facts, statements, 
and arguments in any way connected with it. We understand, 
it seems to me, all we ever can learn or comprehend about a 
national bank. And we have, at least, some conception too of 
what sort of one will be acceptable at the other end of the ave- 
nue. Yet now, with a vast majority of the people of the entire 
country crying out to us for a bank — with the people throughout 
the whole valley of the Mississippi rising in their majesty, and 
demanding it as indispensable to their well-being, and pointing 
to their losses, their sacrifices, and their sufferings, for the want 
38 



44B IN REJOINDER TO MR. RIVES. 

of such an institution — in such a state of things, we are gravely 
and coldly told by the honorable senator from Virginia, that we 
had best go home, leaving the purse and the sword in the un* 
controlled possession of the President, and, above all things, 
never to make a party bank ! Why sir, does he, with all his 
knowledge of the conflicting opinions which prevail here, and 
have prevailed, believe that we ever can make a bank but by 
the votes of one party who are in I'avor of it, in opposition to the 
votes of another party against it ? I deprecate this expression 
of opinion from that gentleman the more, because, although the 
honorable senator ])rofesses not to know the opinions of the Pr> 
sident, it certainly does turn out in the sequel that there is a 
most remarkable coincidence between tliose opinions and his 
own ; and he has, on the present occasion, defended the motives 
and the course of the President with all the solicitude and all 
the fervent zeal of a member of his Privy Council. There is a 
rumor abroad that a cabal exists — a new sort of kitchen cabinet 
— whose object is tlie dissolution of the regular cabinet — the 
dissolution of the Vt^hig party — the dispersion of Congress, with- 
out accomplishing any of the great purposes of the extra session 
— and a total change, in fact, in the whole face of our political 
affairs. I hope, and I persuade myself, that the honorable sena- 
tor is not, cannot be, one of the component members of such a 
cabal ; but I must say that there has been displayed by the 
honorable senator to-day a predisposition, astonishing and inex- 
plicable, to misconceive almost all of wJiat I have said, and a 
perseverance, after repeated corrections, in misunderstanding — 
for I will not charge him with wilfully and intentionally misre- 
presenting — the whole spirit and character of the address which, 
as a man of honor, and as a senator, I felt myself bound in duty 
to make to this body. 

The Senator begins with saying that I charge the President 
with "perfidy!" Did I use any such language? I appeal to 
every gentleman who heard me to say whether I have in a sin- 
gle instance gone beyond a fair and legitimate examination of 
the executive objections to the bill. Yet he has charged me 
with ■'• arraigning" the President, with indicting him in various 
counts, and with imputing to him motives such as I never even 
intimated or dreamed, and that, when I was constantly express- 
ing, over and over, my personal respect and regard for President 
Tyler, for whom I have cherished an intimate personal I'riend- 
ship of twenty years' standing, and while I expressly said that if 
that friendship should now be interrupted, it should not be my 
fault! Why, sir, what possible, what conceivable motive can I 
have to quarrel witli the President, or to break up the Whig 
parly ? What earthly motive can impel me to wish for any 
other result than that that party shall remain in perfect harmony, 
undivided, and shall move undismayed, boldly, and unitedly for- 
ward to the accomplishment of the all-important public objects 
which it has avowed to be its aim .? What imaginable interest 



IN REJOINDER TO MR. RIVES. 447 

or feeling can I have other than the success, the triumph, the 
glory of the Whig party ? But tliat there may be designs and 
purposes on the part of certain other individuals to place me in 
inimical relations with the President, and to represent me as 
personally opposed to him, I can well imagine — individuals who 
are beating up for recruits, and endeavoring to form a third 
party with materials so scanty as to be wholly insufficient to 
compose a decent corporal's guard. I fear there are such indi- 
viduals, though I do not charge the senator as being himself one 
of them. What a spectacle has been presented to this nation 
during this entire session of Congress ! That of the cherished 
and confidential friends of John Tyler, persons who boast and 
claim to be, par excellence, his exclusive and genuine friends, 
being the bitter, systematic, determined, uncompromising oppo- 
nents of ever)^ leading measure of John Tyler's administration ! 
Was there ever before such an example presented, in this or 
any other age, in this or any other country ? I have myself 
known the President too long, and cherish toward him too sin- 
cere a friendship, to allow my feelings to be affected or alienated 
by any thing which has passed here to-day. If the President 
chooses — which I am sure he cannot, unless falsehood has been 
whispered into his ears or poisoned poured into his heart — to de- 
tach himself from me. I shall deeply regret it, for the sake of our 
common friendship and our common country. I now repeat, 
what I before said, that, of all the measures of relief which the 
American people have called upon us for, that of a national 
bank, and a sound and uniform currency has been the most 
loudly and importunately demanded. The senator says tlrat the 
question of a bank was not the issue made before the people at 
the late election. I can say, for one, my own conviction is dia- 
metrically the contrary. What may have been the character of 
the canvass in Virginia; I will not say ; probably gentlemen on 
both sides Avere, every where, governed in some degree by con- 
siderations of local policy. What issues may therefore have 
been presented to the people of Virginia, either above or below 
tide-water, I am not prepared to say. The great error, however, 
of the honorable senator is in thinking that the sentiments of a 
particular party in Virginia are always a fair exponent of the 
sentiments of the whole Union. I can tell that senator that 
wherever I was — in the great valley of the Mississippi — in Ken- 
tucky — in Tennessee — in Maryland — in all the circles in which I 
mioved — every where, " Bank or no Bank" was the great, the 
leading, the vital question. At Hanover, in Virginia, during the 
last summer, at one of the most remarkable, and respectable, 
and gratifying assemblages that I ever attended, I distinctly an- 
nounced my conviction that a bank of the United States was in- 
dispensable. As to the opinions of General Harrison, I know 
that, like many others, he had entertained doubts as to the con- 
stitutionality of a bank ; but I also know that, as the election ap- 
proached, his opinions turned more in favor of a national bank j 



448 IN REJOINDER TO MR. RIVES. 

and I speak from my own personal knowledge of his opinions, 
when I say that I have no more doubt he would have eigned 
that bill, than that you, Mr. President, now occupy that chair, or 
that I am addressing you. 

I rose not to say one word which should wound the feelings 
of President Tyler. The senator says that, if placed in like cir- 
cumstances, I would have been the last man to avoid putting a 
direct veto upon the bill, had it met my disapprobation ; and he 
does me the lionor to attribute to me high qualities of stem and 
unbending intrepidity. I hope that in all that relates to personal 
firmness — all tliat concerns a just appreciation of the insignifi- 
cance of human life — whatever may be attempted to threaten or 
alarm a soul not easily swayed by opposition, or awed or intimi- 
dated by menace — a stout heart and a steady eye that can sur- 
vey, unmoved and undaunted, any mere personal perils that as- 
sail this poor transient, perishing frame, I may, without dispar- 
agement, compare with other men. But there is a sort of courage 
which, I frankly confess it, I do not possess — a boldness to which 
I dare not aspire, a valor which I cannot covet. I cannot lay 
myself down in the way of the welfare and happiness of my 
country. That I cannot,' I have not the courage to do. I can- 
not interpose the power with which I may be invested, a power 
conferred not for my personal benefit, nor for my aggrandize- 
ment, but for my country's good, to check her onward march to 
greatness and glory. I have not courage enough, I am too 
cowardly for that. I would not, I dare not, in the exercise of 
such a trust, lie down, and place my body across the path that 
leads my country to prosperity and happiness. This is a sort 
of courage widely different from that which a man may display 
in his private conduct and personal relations. Personal or pri- 
vate courage is totally distinct from that higher and nobler 
courage which prompts the patriot to offer himself a voluntary 
sacrifice to his country's good. 

Nor did I say, as the senator represents, that the President 
should have resigned. I intimated no personal wish or desire 
that he should resign. I referred to the fact of a memorable re- 
signation in his public life. And what I did say was, that there 
were other alternatives before him besides vetoing the bill ; and 
that it Avas worthy of his consideration whether consistency 
did not require that the example which he had set when he had 
a constituency of one state, should not be followed when he had 
a constituency commensurate with the whole Union. Another 
alternative was to suffer the bill, without his signature, to pass 
into a law under the provisions of the constitution. And I must 
confess I see, in this, no such escaping by the back door no such 
jumping out of the window, as the senator talks about. Appre- 
hensions of the imputation of the want of firmness sometimes 
impel us to perform rash and inconsiderate acts. It is the 
greatest courage to be able to bear the imputation of the want 
of courage. But pride, vanity, egotism, so unamiable and ofTen- 



IN REJOINDER TO MR. RIVES. 449 

sive in private life, are vices which partake of the charac- 
ter of crimes in the conduct of public affairs. The unfortu- 
nate victim of these passions cannot see beyond the little, 
petty, contemptible, circle of his own personal interests. All 
his thoughts are withdrawn from his country, and concentrated 
on his consistency, his firmness, himself. Tiie high, the exalted, 
the sublime emotions of a patrotism, which, soaring towards 
Heaven, rises far above all mean, low, or selfish things, and is 
absorbed by one soul-transporting thought of the good and 
the glory of one's country, are never felt in his impenetrable 
bosom. That patriotism which, catching its inspirations irom 
the immortal God, and leaving at an immeasurable distance 
below all lesser, grovelling, personal interests and feelings, an- 
imates and prompts to deeds of selt-sacrifice, of valor, of devo- 
tion, and of death itself— that is public virtue — that is the noblest, 
the sublimest of al! public virtues ! 

I said nothing of any obligation on the part of the President 
to conform his judgment fo the opinions of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, although the senator argued as if I 
had, and persevered in so arguing, after repeated corrections. 
I said no such thing. I know and respect the perfect indepen- 
dence of each department, acting within its proper sphere, of 
other departments. But I referred to the majorities in the two 
Houses of Congress as further and strong evidence of the opinion 
of the people of the United States in favor of the establishment 
of a bank of the United States. And I contended that, according 
to the doctrine of instructions wliich prevailed in Virginia, and 
of which the President is a disciple, and, in pursuance of the ex- 
ample already cited, he ought not to have rejected the bill. 

I have heard that, on his arrival at the seat of the general 
government, to enter upon the duties of the office of Vice-Presi- 
dent, in March last, when interrogated how far he meant to con- 
form, in his new station, to certain peculiar opinions which were 
held in Virginia, he made this patriotic and noble reply : " I am 
Vice-President of the United States, and not of the state of Vir- 
ginia ; and I shall be governed by the wishes and opinions of 
my constituents." When I heard of this encouraging and satis- 
factory reply, believing, as I most religiously do, that a large 
majority of the people of the United States are in favor of a 
national bank, (and gentlemen may shut their eyes to the fact, 
deny or dispute, or reason it away as they please, but it is my 
conscientious conviction that two-thirds, if not more, of the peo- 
ple of the United Statee desire sucli an institution.) I thought I 
beheld a sure and certain guaranty for the fulfilment of the 
wishes of the people of the United States. I thought it impos- 
sible that the wants and wishes of a great people, who had be- 
stowed such unbounded and generous confidence, and conferred 
on him such exalted honors, should be disregarded and disap- 
pointed. It did not enter into my imagination to conceive that 
38* 



450 IN REJOINDER TO MR. RIVES. 

one, who had shown so much deference and respect to the pre- 
sumed sentiments of a single state, should display less towards 
the sentiments of the whole nation. 

I hope, Mr. President, that, in performing the painful duty 
which had devolved on me, I have not transcended the limits of 
legitimate debate. I repeat, in all truth and sincerity, the assu- 
rance to the Senate and to the country, that nothing but a stern, 
reluctant, and indispensable sense of honor and of duty could 
have forced from me the response which I have made to the 
President's objections. But, instead of yielding without restraint 
to the feelings of disappointment and mortification excited by 
the perusal of his message, I have anxiously endeavored to 
temper the notice of it, which I have been compelled to take, by 
the respect due to the office of Chief Magistrate, and by the 
personal regard and esteem which I have ever entertained for 
its present incumbent. 



APPENDII. 



ON THE COLONIZATION OF THE NEGROES. 

Speech before the American Colonization Society, in the hall of 
the Home of Representatives, Jan. 20, 1827. 

Mr. Clay rose. I cannot (said he) withhold the expression of 
my congratulations to the society on account of the very valuable 
acquisition which we have obtained in the eloquent gentleman 
from Boston, (Mr. Knapp,) who has just before favored us with 
an address. He has told us of his original impressions, unfavor- 
able to the object of the society, and of his subsequent conver- 
sion. If the same industry, investigation and unbiassed judg- 
ment, which he and another gentleman. (Mr. Powell) who avowed 
at tlae last meeting of the society, a similar change wrought in 
his mind, were carried, by the public at large, into the considera- 
tion of the plan of the society, the conviction of its utility would 
be universal. 

I have risen to submit a resolution, in behalf of which I would 
bespeak the favor of the society. But before I ofler any obser- 
vations in its support, I must say that, whatever part I shall take 
in the proceedings of this society, whatever opinions or senti- 
ments I may utter, they are exclusively my own. Whether they 
are worth any thing or not, no one but myself is at all responsi- 
ble for them. I have consulted with no person out of this society; 
and I have especially abstained from all communication or con- 
sultation with any one to whom I stand in any official relation. 
My judgment on the object of this society has been long since 
deliberately formed. The conclusions to which, after much and 
anxious consideration, my mind has been brought, have been 
neither produced nor refuted by the official station the duties of 
which have been confided to me. 

From the origin of this society, every member of it has, I be- 
lieve, looked forward to the arrival of a period, when it woiild 
become necessary to invoke the public aid in the execution of 
tlie great scheme which it was instituted to promote. Consider- 
ing itself as the mere pioneer in the cause which it had underta- 
ken, it was well aware that it could do no more than remove 
preliminary difficulties and point out a sure road to ultimate suc- 
cess ; and that the public only could supply that regular, steady, 
and efficient support, to which the gratuitous means of benevo- 
lent individuals would be found incompetent. My surprise has 



452 ON THE COLONIZATION 

been that the society has been able so long to sustain itself, and 
to do so much upon the charitable contributions of good and pi- 
ous and enlightened men, whom it has happily found in all parta 
of our country. But our work has so prospered, and grown un- 
der our hands, that the appeal to the power and resources of the 
public should be no longer deferred. The resolution which I 
have risen to propose contemplates this appeal. It is in the fol- 
lowing words : — 

" Resolved^ That the board of niang,gers be empowered and 
directed, at such time/ or times as may seem to them expedient, 
Co make respectful application to the Congress of the United 
States, and to the legislatures of the different states, for such pe- 
cuniary aid, in furtherance of the object of this society, as they 
may respectively be pleased to grant." 

In soliciting the countenance and support of the legislatures of 
the Union and the states, it is incumbent on the society, in ma- 
king out its case, to show, first — that it offers to their considera- 
tion a scheme wliicli is practicable — and second — that the execu- 
tion of the practicable scheme, partial or entire, will be fraught 
with such beneficial consequences as to merit the support which 
is solicited. I believe both points to be maintainable. First. — 
It is now a little upwards of ten years since a religious, amiable 
and benevolent resident* of this city first conceived the idea of 
planting a colony, from the United States, of free people of color, 
on the western shores of Africa. He is no more, and the noblest 
eulogy which could be pronounced on him would be to inscribe 
upon his tomb, the merited epitaph — " Here lies the projector of 
the American Colonization Society." Amongst others, to whom 
he communicated the project, was the person who now has the 
honor of addressing you. My first impressions, like those of all 
who have not fully investigated the subject, were against it. — 
They yielded to his earnest persuasions and my own reflections, 
and I finally agreed with him that the experiment was worthy 
of a fair trial. A meeting of its friends was called — organized 
as a deliberative body, and a constitution was formed. The so- 
ciety went into operation. He lived to see the most encouraging 
progress in its exertions, and died in full confidence of its com- 
plete success. The society was scarcely formed before it was 
exposed to the derision of the unthinking ; pronounced to be vis- 
ionary and chimerical by those wlio were capable of adopting 
wiser opinions, and the most confident predictions of its entire 
failure were put forth. It found itself equally assailed by the 
two extremes of public sentiment in regard to our African popu- 

* It has been, since iho delivery of the speech, suggested that the Rev. Robert Fin- 
ley, of New Jersey, (who is also unfortunately dead,) contemplated the formation of a 
society, with a view to tlie establishment of a colony in Africa, and probably first 
commenced the project. It is quite likely tliat he did ; and Mr. Clay recollects see- 
ing Rlr. Finley, and consulting with him on the subject, about the period of the for- 
mation of the society. But the allusion to l\Ir, Caldwell was founded on the facts 
well known to Wr Clay, of his active agency in the organization of the society, and 
his unremitted subsequent labors, which were not confined to the District of Co- 
lumbia, in promoting the cause. 



OP THE NEGROES. 463 

feition. According to one, (that rash class which, without a due 
estimate of the fatal consequence, would forthwith issue a de- 
cree of general, immediate, and indiscriminate emancipation,) it 
was a scheme of the slave holder to perpetuate slavery. The 
other (that class which believes slavery a blessing, and which 
trembles with aspen sensibility at the appearance of the most 
distant and ideal danger to the tenure by which that description 
of property is held,) declared it a contrivance to let loose on so- 
ciety all the slaves of the country, ignorant, uneducated, and in- 
capable of appreciating the value, or enjoying the privileges of 
freedom.'*' The society saw itself surrounded by every sort of 
embarrassment. What great human enterprise was ever under- 
taken without difficulty ? What ever failed, within the compass 
of human power, when pursued with perseverance and blessed 
by the smiles of Providence 1 The society prosecuted undismayed 
its great work, appealing for succor to the moderate, the reason- 
able, the virtuous, and religious portions of the public. It pro- 
tested, from the commencement, and throughout all its progress, 
and it now protests, that it entertains no purpose, on its own au- 
thority or by its own means, to attempt emancipation partial or 
general ; that it knows the general government has no constitu- 
tional power to achieve such an object; that it believes that the 
states, and the states only, which tolerate slavery, can accom- 
plish the work of emancipation ; and that it ought to be left to 
them, exclusively, absolutely, and voluntarily, to decide the ques- 
tion. 

The object of the society was the colonization of the free co- 
lored people, not the slaves, of the country. Voluntary in its in- 
stitution, voluntary in its continuance, voluntary in all its ramifi- 
cations, all its means, purposes, and instruments are also volun- 
tary. But it was said that no free colored persons could be 
prevailed upon to abandon the comforts of civilized hfe, and ex- 

Eose themselves to all the perils of a settlement in a distant, in- 
ospitable and savage country ; that, if they could be induced to 
go on such a quixotic expedition, no territory could be procured 
for their CKtablishment as a colony ; that the plan was altogether 
incompetent to effectuate its professed object; and that it ought 
to be rejected as the idle dream of visionary enthusiasts. The 
society has outlived, thank God, all these disastrous predictions. 
It has survived to swell the list of false prophets. It is no longer 
a question of speculation whether a colony can or cannot be 
planted from the United States of free persons of color on the 
shores of Africa. It is a matter demonstrated ; such a colony, 
in fact, exists, prospers, has made successful war, and honorable 
peace, and transacts all the multiplied business of a civilized and 
Christian community. It now has about five hundred souls, dis- 
ciplined troops, forts, and other means of defence, sovereignty 

* A society of a few individuals, Without power, without other resources than those 
which are supplied by spontaneous benevolence, to emancipate all the slaves of the 
country ! 



454 ON TPIE COLONIZATION 

over an extensive territory, and exerts a powerful and salutary 
influence over tiie ne!;.;-liboi-ing clans. 

Numbers of the iree African race among us are willing to go 
to Africa. The society has never experienced any difficulty on 
that subject, except t'nai its means of comfortable transportation 
have been inadequate to accommodate all who have been anx- 
ious to migrate. Why should tliey not go? 'Here they are in 
the lowest slate of social gradation — aliens — political — moral — 
social aliens, strangers, though natives. There, they would be 
in the midst of their friends and their kindred, at home, though 
born in a foreign land, and elevated above the natives of the 
country, as much as they are degraded here below the other 
classes of the cominunily. But on this matter, I am happy to 
have it in my power to furnish indisputable evidence from the 
most authentic source, that of large numbers of free persons of 
color themselves. Numerous meetings have been held in seve- 
ral churches in Baltimore, of the free people of color, in which, 
after being organist^d as deliberative assemblies, by the appoint- 
ment of a chairman (if not of the same complexion) presiding as 
you, Mr. Vice-President, do, and secretaries, they have voted 
memorials addressed to the v/hite people, in which they have 
argued the question with an ability, moderation, and temper, 
surpassing any that I can command, and emphatically recom- 
mended the colony of Liberia to favorable consideration, as the 
most desirable and practicable scheme ever yet presented on this 
interesting subject. I ask permission of the society to read this 
highly creditable document. 

[Here Mr. Clay read the memorial referred to.] 

The society has experienced no difficulty in the acquisition of 
a territory, upon reasonable terms, abundantly sufficient lor a 
most extensive colony. And land in ample quantities, it has as- 
certained, can be procured in Africa, together with all rights of 
sovereignty, upon conditions as favorable as those on which tlie 
United States extinguish the Indian title to territory within their 
own limits. 

In respect to the alledged incompetency of the scheme to ac- 
complish its professed object, the society asks that that object 
should be taken to be, not what the imaginations of its enemies 
represent it to be, but what it really proposes. They represent 
that the purpose of the society is to export the whole African 
population of the United States, bond and free ; and they pro- 
nounce this design to be unattainable. They declare that the 
means of the whole country are insufficient to effect the trans- 
portation to Africa of a mass of population approximating to 
two milhons of souls. Agreed ; but that is not what the society 
contemplates. They have substituted their own notion for that 
of the society. What is the true nature of the evil of the exist- 
ence of a portion of the African race in our population ? It is 
not that there are sow-e, but that there are so many among us of 
a different caste, of a different physical, if not moral, constitu- 



OP THE NEGROES. 455 

tion, who never can amalgamate with, the great body of our 
population. In every country, persons are to be found varying 
in their color, origin, and character, from the native mass. But 
this anomaly creates no inquietude or apprehnasion, because the 
exotics, from the smallness of their number, are known to be 
utterly incapable of disturbing the general tranquillity. Here, 
on the contrary, the African part of our population bears so large 
a proportion to the residue, of European origin, as to create the 
most lively apprehension-, especially in some quarters of the 
Union. Any project, therefore, by v/hich, in a material degree, 
the dangerous element in the general mass can be diminished 
or rendered stationary, deserves delibei'ate consideration. 

The colonization society has never imagined it to be practi- 
cable, or within the reach of any means which the several govern- 
ments of the Union could bring to bear on the subject, to trans- 
port the whole of the African race within the limits of the United 
States. Nor is that necessary to accomplish the desirable ob- 
jects of domestic tranquillity, and render us one homogeneous 
people. The population of the United States has been supposed 
to duplicate in periods of twenty-five years. That may have 
been the case heretofore, but the terms of duplication will be 
more and more protracted as we advance in national age ; and 
I do not believe, that it will be found, in any period to come, 
that our numbers will be doubled in a less term than one of about 
thirtj'^-three and a third years. I have not time to enter now 
into details in support of this opinion. They would consist of 
those checks which experience has shown to obstruct the pro- 
gress of population, arising out of its actual augmentation and 
densitjr, the settlement of waste lands, &c. Assuming the period 
of thirty-three and a third, or any other number of years, to be 
that in which our population will hereafier be doubled, if, during 
that whole term, the capital of the African stock could be kept 
down, or stationary, whilst that of European origin should be 
left to an unobstructed increase, the result, at the end of the 
term, would be most propitious. Let us suppose, for example, 
that the whole population at present of the United States, 
is twelve millions, of which ten may be estimated of the Anglo- 
Sa.^on, and two of the African race. If there could be annu- 
ally transported from the United States an amount of the Afri- 
can portion equal to the annual increase of the whole oi' that 
caste, whilst the European race should be left to multiply, we 
should find at the termination of the period of duplication, what- 
ever it may be, that the relative proportions would be as tv/enty 
to two. And if the process v/ere continued, during a second 
term of duplication, the proportion v.'oukl be as forty to two — ■ 
one which would eradicate every cause of alarm or solicitude 
from the breasts of the most timid. But the transportation of 
Africans, by creating, to the extent to which it might be carried, 
a vacuum in society, would tend to accelerate the duplication of 



456 ON THE COLONIZATION 

the European race, who, by all the laws of population, would fill 
up the void space. 

This societ}^ is well aware, I repeat, that they cannot touch the 
subject of slavery. But it is no objection to their scheme, limited 
as it is exclusively to those free people of color who are willing 
to migrate, that it admits of indefinite extension and application, 
by those, who alone, having the competent authority, may choose 
to adopt and apply it. Our object has been to point out the way, 
to show that colonization is practicable, and to leave it to those 
states or individuals, who may be pleased to engage in the ob- 
ject, to prosecute it. We have demonstrated that a colony may 
be planted in Afi-ica, by the fact that an American colony there 
exists. The problem which has so long and so deeply interested 
the thoughts of good and patriotic men, is solved. A country 
and a home have been found, to which the African race may be 
sent, to the promotion of their happiness and our own. 

But, Mr. Vice-President, I shall not rest contented with the 
fact of the establishment of the colony, conclusive as it ought to 
be deemed, of the practicability of our purpose. I shall proceed 
to show, by reference to indisputable statistical details and cal- 
culations, that it is Avithin the compass of reasonable human 
means. I am sensible of the tediousness of all arithmetical data, 
but I will endeavor to simplify them as much as possible. It 
will be borne in mind that the aim of the society is to establish 
in Africa a colony of the free African population of the United 
States ; to an extent Avhich shall be beneficial both to Africa and 
America. The whole free colored population of the United 
States amounted in 1790, to fifty-nine thousand four hundred 
and eighty-one ; in ISOO, to one hundred and ten thousand and 
seventy-two; in lS10,to one hundred and eighty-six thousand four 
hundred and ibrty-six ; and in 1820, to two liundred and thirty- 
three tliousand five hundred and thirty. The ratio of annual 
increase during the first term of ten years, was about eight and 
a half per cent, per annum ; during the second about seven 
per cent, per annum ; and during the third, a little more than 
two and a half The very great difference in the rate of 
annual increase, during those several terms, may probably be 
accounted for by the effect of the number of voluntary emanci- 
pations operating with more influence upon the total smaller 
amount of free colored persons at the first of those periods, and 
by tlie facts of the insurrection in St. Domingo, and the acqui- 
sition of Louisiana, both of which, occurring during the first and 
second terms, added considerably to the number of our free 
colored population. 

Of all descriptions of our population, that of die free colored, 
taken in the aggregate, is tlie least prolific, because of the checks 
arising from vice and want. During the ten years, between 
1810 and 1820, when no extraneous causes existed to prevent a 
fair competition in the increase between the slave and the free 
African race, the former increased at the rate of nearly thr€» 



OF THE NEGROES. 457 

per cent, per annum, whilst the latter did not much exceed two 
and a halt'. Hereafter it may be safely assumed, and I venture 
to predict will not be contradicted by the return of the next cen- 
sus, that the increase of the free black population will not sur- 
pass two and a half per cent, per annum. Their amount at the 
last census, being two hundred and tiiirty-three thousand five 
hundred and thirty, for the sake of round numbers, their annual in- 
crease may be assumed to be six thousand at the present time. 
Now if this number could be annually transported from the 
United States during a term of years, it is evident that, at the 
end of that term, the parent capital will not have increased, but 
will have been kept down, at least to what it was at the com- 
mencement of the term. Is it practicable, then, to colonize an- 
nually six thousand persons from the United States, without ma- 
terially impairing or affecting any of the great interests of the 
United Slates? This is the question presented to the judgments 
of the legislative authorities of our country. This is the whole 
scheme of the society. From its actual experience, derived from 
the expenses which have been incurred in transporting the per- 
sons already sent to Africa, the entire average expense of each 
colonist, young and old, including passage money and sub- 
sistence, may be stated at twenty dollars per head. There is 
reason to believe that it may be reduced considerably below that 
sum. Estimating that to be the expense, the total cost of trans- 
porting six thousand souls, annually to Africa, would be one 
hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The tonnage requisite 
to effect the object, calculating two persons to every five tons 
(which is the provision of existing law) would be fifteen thousand 
tons. But, as each vessel could probably make two voyages in 
the year, it may be reduced to seven thousand five hundred. 
And as both our mercantile and military marine might be occa- 
sionally employed on this collateral service, without injury to 
the main object of the voyage, a further abatement might be 
safely made in the aggregate amount of the necessary tonnage. 
The navigation concerned in the commerce between the colony 
and the United States, (and it already begins to supply subjects 
of an interesting trade,) might be incidentally employed to th« 
same end. 

Is the annual expenditure of a sum no larger than one hundred 
and twenty thousand dollars, and the annual employment of seven 
thousand five hundred tons of shipping, too much for reason- 
able exertion, considering the magnitude of the object in view ? 
Are they not, on the contrary, within the compass of moderate 
efforts 1 

Here is the whole scheme of the society — a project which has 
been pronounced visionary by those who have never given them- 
selves the trouble to examine it, but to which I believe most un- 
biassed men will yield their cordial assent, after they have in- 
vestigated it. 
39 



458 ON THE COLONIZATION 

Limited as the project is, by the society, to a colony to b« 
formed by the free and unconstrained consent of free persons of 
color, it is no objection, but on the contrary, a great recom- 
mendation of the plan, that it admits of being taken up and ap- 
plied on a scale of much more comprehensive utility. The so- 
ciety knows, and it affords just cause of felicitation, that all or 
any one of the states which tolerate slavery, may carry the 
scheme of colonization into effect, ia regard to the slaves within 
their respective limits, and thus ultimately rid themselves of an 
universally acknowledged curse. A reference to the results of 
the several enumerations of the population of the United States 
will incontestably prove the practicability of its application on 
the m.ore extensive scale. The slave population of the United 
States amounted in 1790, to six hundred and ninety-seven thou- 
sand, six hundred and ninety-seven ; in 1800. to eight hundred 
and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and forty-nine; in 1810, 
to eleven hundred and ninety-one thousand, three hundred and 
sixty-four; and in 1820, to fifteen hundred and thirty-eight thou- 
sand, one hundred and twenty-eight. The rate of annual in- 
crease, (rejecting fractions, and taking the integer to which they 
make the nearest approach,) during the first term often years, 
was not quite three per centum per annum, during the second, 
a little more than three per centum per annum, and during the 
third, a little less than three per centum. The mean ratio of in- 
crease for the whole period of thirty years was very little more 
than three per centum per annum. During the first two periods, 
the native stock was augmented by importations from Africa, in 
those states which continued to tolerate them, and by the acqui- 
sition of Louisiana. Virginia, to her eternal honor, abolished 
the abominable traffic among the earliest act.s of her self-govern- 
ment. The last term alone presents the natural increase of the 
capital unaffected by any extraneous causes. Tliat authorizes, 
as a safe assumption, that the future increase will not exceed 
three per centum per annum. As our population increases, the 
value of slave labor will diminish, in consequence of the supe- 
rior advantages in the employment of \Yee labor. And when 
the value of slave labor shall be materially lessened, either by 
the multiplication of the supply of slaves beyond the demand, or 
by the competition between slave and free labor, the annual in- 
crease of slaves will be reduced, in consequence of the abate- 
ment of the motives to provide for and rear the oflspring. 

Assuming the future increase to be at the rate of three per 
centum per annum, the annual addition to the number of slaves 
in the United States, calculated upon the return of the last cen- 
sus (one million five hundred and thirty-eight thousand, one 
hundred and twenty-eight) is forty-six tliousand. Applying the 
data which have been already stated and explained, in relation 
to the colonization of free persons of color from the United States 
to Africa, to the aggregate annual increase, both bond and free, 
of the African race, and tlie result will be found most encourag- 



OF THE NEGROES. 459 

ing. The total number of the annual increase of both descrip- 
tions is fifty-two thousand. The total expense of transporting 
that number to Africa, supposing no reduction of j^resent prices, 
would be one million and forty thousand dollars, and the requi- 
site amount of tonnage would be only one hundred and thirty 
thousand tons of shipping, about one-ninth part of the mercan- 
tile marine of the United States. Upon the supposition of a 
vessel's making two voyages in tlie year, it would be reduced to 
one half, sixty-five thousand. And this quantity would be still 
further reduced, by embracing opportunities of incidental em- 
ployment of vessels belonging both to the mercantile and mili- 
tary marines. 

But, is the annual application of one million and forty thou- 
sand dollars, and the employment of sixty-five or even one hun- 
dred and thirty thousand tons of shipping, considering the mag- 
nitude of the object, beyond the abiHty of this country? Is there 
a patriot, looking Ibrward to its domestic quiet, its Jiappiness, 
and its glory, that would not cheerfully contribute his proportion 
of the burden to accomplish a purpose so great and so humane? 
During tlie general continuance of the African slave trade, hun- 
dreds of thousands of slaves have been, in a singlfe year, import- 
ed into the several countries whose laws autliorized their admis- 
sion. Notwithstanding the vigilance of the powers now engaged 
to suppress the slave trade, I have received information, that 
in a single year, in the single island of Cuba, slaves equal in 
amount to one half of tlie above number of fifty-two thousand, 
have been illicitly introduced. Is it possible tliat those who are 
concerned in an infamous traffic can effect more than the states 
of this Union, if they were seriously to engage in the good work? 
Is it credible — is it not a libel upon human nature to suppose, 
that the triumphs of fraud and violence and iniquity, can surpass 
those of virtue, and benevolence, and humanity ? 

The population of the United States being, at this time, 
estimated at about ten millions of the European race, and two 
of the African, on the supposition of the annual colonization of a 
number of the latter equal to the annual increase, of both of its 
classes, during the whole period necessary to the process of 
duplication of our numbers, they would, at the end of that period, 
relatively stand twenty millions lor the white, and two for the 
black portion. But an annual exportation of a number equal to 
tlie annual increase, at the beginning of the term, and perse- 
vered in to the end of it, would accomplish more than to keep 
tlie parent stock stationary. The colonists would comprehend 
more than an equal proportion of those of the prolific ages. Few 
of those who had passed that age would migrate. So that the 
annual increase of those left behind, would continue gradually, 
but, at first, insensibly, to diminish; and by the expiration of the 
period of duplication, it would be found to have materially abat- 
ed. But it is not merely the greater relative safety and happi- 
ness which wouldj at the termination of that period, be the con- 



460 ON THE COLONIZATION 

dition of the whites. Their abihty to give further stimulus to 
tlie cause of colonization will have been doubled, whilst the sub- 
jects on which it woukl have to operate, will have decreased or 
remained stationary. If tlic business of colonization should be 
regularly continued during two periods of duplication, at the end 
of the second, the Avhites would stand to the blacics, as forty 
millions to not more tluin two, whilst the same ability will have 
been quadrupled. Even if colonization should then altogether 
cease, the proportion of the African to the European race will 
be so small that the most timid may then, for ever, dismiss all 
ideas of danger from witliin or without, on account of that in- 
congruous and perilous element in our population. 

Further; by the annual withdrawal of fifty-two thousand per- 
sons of color, there would be annual space created for an equal 
number of ihe white race. The period, therefore, oi' the dupli- 
cation of the whites, by the laws which govern population, 
would be accelerated. 

Such, Mr. Vice-President, is the project of the society; and 
such is the extension and use which may be made of the principle 
of colonization, in application to our slave population, by those 
states which are alone competent to undertake and execute it. 
All, or any one, of the states which tolerate slavery may adopt 
and execute it, by co-operation or separate exertion. If I could 
be instrumental in eradicating this deepest stain upon the char- 
acter of our country, and removing all cause of reproach on ac- 
count of it, by foreign nations — If I could only be instrumental 
in ridding of this foul blot that revered state that gave me birth, 
or that not less beloved state which kindly adopted me as her 
son, I would not exchange the proud satisfaction which I should 
enjoy for the honor of all the triumphs ever decreed to the most 
successful conqueror. 

Having, I hope, shown that the plan of the society is not vis- 
ionary, but rational and practicable ; that a colony does in fact 
exist, planted under its auspices ; that free people are willing 
and anxious to go; and that the right of soil as well as of sove- 
reignty may be acquired in vast tracts of country in Africa, 
abundantly sufficient for all the purposes of the most ample 
colony, and at prices almost only nominal, the task which re- 
mains tome of showing the beneficial consequences which would 
attend the execution of the scheme, is comparitively easy. 

Of the utility of a total separation of the two incongruous por- 
tions of our population, supposing it to be practicable, none have 
ever doubted. The mode of accomplishing that most desirable 
object, has alone divided public opinion. Colonization in Hayti, 
for a time, had its partisans. Without throwing any impedi- 
ments in the way of executing that scheme, the American colo- 
nization society has steadily adhered to its own. The Haytien 
])rojcct has passed away. Colonization beyond the Stony 
Mountains has soiuctinios been propos€d ; but it would be at- 
tended with an expense and difficalties iar surpassing the Airican 



OF THE NEGROES. 461 

project, whilst it would not unite the same animating motives. 
There is a moral fitness in the idea of returning to Africa her 
children, whose ancestors have heen torn from her by the ruth- 
less hand of fraud and violence. Transplanted in a foreign 
land, they will carry back to their native soil the rich fruits of 
religion, civilization, law, and liberty. May it not be one of the 
great designs of the Ruler ol' the universe, (whose ways are 
often inscrutable by short-sighted mortals.) thus to transform an 
original crime into a signal blessing, to that most unfortunate 
portion of the globe. Of all classes of our population, the most 
vicious is that of the free colored. It is the inevitable result of 
their moral, political, and civil degradation. Contaminated 
themselves, they extend their vices to all around them, to the 
slaves and to the whites. If the principle of colonization should 
be confined to them; if a colony can be firmly established and 
euccessfully continued in Africa which should drav/ off annually an 
amount of that portion of our population equal to its annual in- 
crease, much good will be done. Iftheprinciplebeadopted and ap- 
plied bythe states, whose laws sanction the existence of slavery, to 
an extent equal to the annual increase of slaves, still greater 
good will be done. This good will be felt by the Africans who 
go, by the Africans who remain, by the white population of our 
country, by Africa, and by America. It is a project which re- 
commends itself to favor in all the aspects in which it can be 
contemplated. It will do good in every and any extent in which 
it may be executed. It is a circle of philanthropy, every seg- 
ment of which tells and testifies to the beneficence of the whole. 

Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him 
credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free 
institutions. Why is it that the degree of success of missionary 
exertions is so limited, and so discouraging to those whose 
piety and benevolence prompt them ? Is it not because the 
missionary is generally an alien and a stranger, perhaps of a 
different color, and from a ditferent tribe? There is a sort of 
instinctive feeling of jealousy and distrust towards foreigners, 
which repels and rejects them in all countries-; and this feeling 
is in proportion to the degree of ignorance and barbarism which 
prevail. But the African colonists, whom we send to convert 
the heathen, are of the same color, the same family, the same 
physical constitution. When the purposes of the colony shall 
be fully understood, they will be received as long lost brethren 
restored to the embraces of their friends and their kindred by the 
dispensations of a wise Providence. 

The society is reproached ibr agitating this question. It 
ehould be recollected that the existence of free people of color is 
is not limited to the states only which tolerate slavery. The 
evil extends itself to all the states, and some of those which do 
not allow of slavery, their cities especially, experience the evil 
in an extent even greater than it exists in the slave states. A 
39* 



462 ON THE COLONIZATION 

Gommon evil confers a right to consider and apply a common 
remedy. Nor is it a valid objection that this remedy is partial 
in its operation or distant in its efficacj^ A patient, writhing 
under the tortures of excruciating disease, asks of his physician 
to cure him if he can, and, if he cannot, to mitigate his suffer- 
ings. But the remedy proposed, if generally adopted, and per- 
severingly applied, for a sufficient length of time, should it not 
entirely eradicate the disease, will enable the body politic to 
bear it without danger and without suffering. 

We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of 
this question. The society goes into no household to disturb its 
domestic tranquility; it addresses itself to no slaves to weaken 
their obligations of obedience. It seeks to affect no man's pro- 
perty. It neither has the power nor the will to affect the pro- 
perty of any one contrary to his consent. The execution of its 
scheme would augment instead of diminishing the value of the 
property left behind. The society, composed of free men, con- 
cerns itself only with the free. Collateral consequences we are 
not responsible for. It is not this society which has produced 
the great moral revolution which the age exhibits. What would 
they, who thus reproach us, have done ? If they Avould repress 
all tendencies towards liberty and ultimate emancipation, they 
must do more than put down the benevolent efforts of this so- 
ciety. They must go back to the era of our liberty and inde- 
pendence, and muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual 
joyous return. They must revive the slave trade, with all its 
train of atrocities. They must suppress the workings of British 
philanthropy, seeking to meliorate the condition of the unfortu- 
nate West Indian slaves. They must arrest the career of South 
American deliverance from thraldom. They must blow out the 
moral lights around us, and extinguish that greatest torch of all 
which America presents to a benighted world., pointing the way 
to their rights, their liberties, and their happiness. And when 
they have achieved all these purposes, their work will be yet in- 
complete. Tliey must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate 
the light of reason and the love of liberty. Tiien, and not till 
then, when universal darkness and despair prevail, can you per- 
petuate slavery, and repress all sympathies, and all humane and 
benevolent efforts among freemen, in behalf of the unhappy por- 
tion of our race doomed to bondage. 

Our friends, who are curst with this greatest of human evils, 
deserve the kindest attention and consideration. Their property 
and their safety are both involved. But the liberal and candid 
among them will not, cannot, expect' that every project to de- 
liver our country from it is to be crushed because of a possible 
and ideal danger. 

Animated by the encouragement of the past, let us proceed 
under the cheering prospects which lie before us. Let us con- 
tinue to appeal to the pious, the liberal, and the wise. Let us 
bear in mind the condition of our forefathers, when, collected on 



ON THE BANK aUESTION. 463 

the beach of England, they embarked, amidst the scofRngs and 
the false predictions of the assembled multitude, for this distant 
land ; and here, in spite of all the perils of forest and ocean, 
which they encountered, successfully laid the foundations of this 
glorious republic. Undismayed by the prophecies of the pre- 
eumptuous, let us supplicate the aid of the American representa- 
tives of the people, and redoubling our labors, and invoking the 
blessings of an all-wise Providence, I boldly and confidently 
anticipate success. I hope the resolution which I offer will be 
unanimously adopted. 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 

A sketch of what Mr. Clay said on the Bank Question, in an 
Address to his Constituents, in Lexington, June 2d, 1816. — 
[Extracted from the Kentucky Gazette.'] 

On one subject, that of the Bank of the United States, to 
which, at the late session of Congress, he gave his humble sup- 
port, Mr. Clay felt particularly anxious to explain the grounds 
on which he had acted. This explanation, if not due to his own 
character, the state and district to which he belonged had a right 
to demand. It would have been unnecessary, if his observa- 
tions, addressed to the House of Representatives, pending the 
measure, had been published ; but they were not pubhshed, and 
why they were not published, he was unadvised. 

When he was a member of the Senate of the United States, 
he was induced to oppose tlie renewal of llie charter of the old / 
bank of the United States, by three general considerations. The 
first was, that he was instructed to oppose it by the Legislature 
of the state. What were the reasons that operated with the 
Legislature, in giving the instruction, he did not know. He has 
understood from members of that bodj-, at the time it was .<jiven. 
that a clause, declaring that Congress had no power to giant 
the charter, was stricken out; from which it might be inferred, 
either that the Legislature did not believe a bank to be uncon- 
etitutional. or that it had formed no opinion on that point. This 
inference derives additional strength from the fact, that, although 
the two late Senators from this state, as well as the present Sena- 
tors, voted lor a national bank^the Legislature, which must have 
been well apprised that such a measure v.'as in contemplation, 
did not again interpose, either to protest against the measure 
itsell', or to censure the conduct of those Senators. From this 
silence on the part of a body which has ever fixed a watchful 
eye upon tiie proceedings of the general government, he had a 
right to believe that the Legislature of Ken.'u(;ky saw, without 
dissatisfaction, the proposal to establish a national bank; and 



464 ON THE BANK aUESTlON. 

that its opposition to the former one was npon ground? of expe- 
diency, applicable to that corporation alone, or no longer exist- 
ing. But when, at the last session, the question caine up as to 
the establishment of a national bank, being a member of tiie 
House of Representatives, the point of inquiry with him was not 
60 much what was the opinion of the Legislature, although un- 
doubtedly the opinion of a body so respectable would have great 
weight with him under any circumstances, as what were the 
sentiments of his immediate constituents. These he believed 
to be in lavor of such an institution, from tlie following circum- 
■tances: In the first place, his predecessor, (Mr. Hawkins,) voted 
for a national bank, without the slightest murmur of discontent. 
Secondly, during the last fall, when he was in his district, he 
conversed freely with many of his constituents upon that subject, 
then the most common topic of conversation, and all, without a 
single exception as far as he recollected, agreed that it Avas a 
desirable, if not the only efficient remedy, for the alarming evils 
in the currency of the country. And lastly, during the session 
he received many letters from his constituents, prior to the pas- 
sage of the bill, all of which concurred, he believed without a 
solitary exception, in advising the measure. So far, then, from 
being instructed by his district to oppose the bank, he had what 
was perhaps tantamount to an instruction to support it — the 
acquiescence of his constituents in the vote of their former rep- 
resentative, and 4he communications, oral and written, of di4 
opinions of many of them in favor of a bank. 

The next consideration which induced him to oppose the re- 
newal of the old charter, was, that he believed the corporation 
had, during a portion of the period of its existence, abused its 
powers, and had sought to subserve the views of a political 
party. Instances of its oppression for that purpose were asserted 
to have occurred at Philadelphia and at Charleston ; and, although 
denied in Congress bj^ the friends of the institution during the 
discussions on the application I'or the renewal of the charter, 
they were, in his judgment, satisfactorily madt^ out. This op- 
pression, indeed, was admitted in the House of Representatives, 
in the debate on the present bank, by a distinguished member of 
that party which had so warmly espoused the renewal of the old 
charter. It may be said, Avhat security is there that the new 
bank will not imitate this example of oppression ? He answered, 
the fate of the old bank warning all similar institutions to shun 
politics, with which they ought not to have any concern; the 
existence of abundant competition, arising i'rom the great multi- 
plication of banks, and the precautions Avhich are to be found in 
the details of the present bill. 

A third consideration, upon which he acted tn IS 11, was that, 
as the power to create a corporation, such as was proposed to 
be continued, Avas not specilically granted in the constitution, 
and did not then appear to him to be necessary to carry into 
efi'ect any of the powers which were specifically granted, Con- 



ON THE BANK aUESTION. 465 

gress was not authorized to continue the bank. The constitu- 
tion, he said, contained powers delegated and prohibitory, powers 
expressed and constructive. It vests in Congress all powers 
necessary to give effect to the enumerated powers — all that may 
be necessary to put into motion and activity the machine of 
government which it constructs. The powers that may be so 
necessary are deducible by construction. They are not defined 
in the constitution. They are, from their nature, indefinable. 
When the question is in relation to one of these powers, the 
point of inquiry should be, is its exertion necessary to carry into 
effect any of (he enumerated powers and objects of the general 
government? With regard to the demise of necessity, various 
rules have been, at different times, laid down; but, perhaps, at 
last, there is no other than a sound and honest jodgment exer- 
cised, under the checks and control which belong to the consti- 
tution and to the people. 

The constructive powers, being auxiliary to the specifically 
granted powers, and depending, for their sanction and exi.s- 
tence, upon a necessity to give etiect to the latter, which neces- 
sity is to be sought for and ascertained by a sound and honest 
discretion, it is manifest that this necessity m.iy not be perceived, 
at one time, under one state of things, when it is perceived at 
another time, under a different state of things. The constitu- 
tion, it is true, never changes; it is always the same; but the 
force of circumstances and the lights of experience may evolve 
to the fallible persons, charged with its administration, the fit- 
ness and necessity of a particular exercise of a constructive 
power (o-day, which they did not see at a former period. 

Mr. Clay proceeded to remark, that when the application was 
made to renev/ the old charter of the bank of the United States, 
euch an institution did not appear to him to be so necessary to 
the fulfillment of any of the objects specifically enumerated in 
the constitution as to justify Congress in assuming, by construc- 
tion, power to establish it. It was supported mainly upon the 
ground that it was indispensable to tiie treasury operations. But 
the local institutions, in the several states were at that time in 
prosperous existence, confided in by the community, having 
a confidence in each other, and maintaining an intercourse and 
connexion the most intimate. Many of them were actually em- 
ployed by the treasury to aid that department, in a part of its 
fiscal arrangements; and they appeared to him to be fully capa- 
ble of affording to it all the facility that it ought to desire in all 
of them. They superceded, in his judgment, the necessity of a 
national institution. But how stood the case in 1816, when he 
was called upon again to examine the power of the general 
government to incorporate a national bank. A total change of 
circumstances was presented. Events of the utmost magnitude 
had intervened. 

A general suspension of specie payments had taken place, 
and this had led to a train of consequences of the most euann- 



466 ON THE BANK aUESTION. 

ing nature. He beheld, dispersed over the immense extent of 
the United States, about three hundred bani<ing institutions, 
enjoying, in different degree?, the confidence of the public, sha- 
ken as to them all, under no direct control of the general gov- 
ernment, and subject to no actual responsibility to the state 
authorities. These institutions were emitting the actual curren- 
cy of the United States; a currency consisting of a paper, on 
which they neither paid interest nor principal, whilst it was ex- 
changed for the paper of the community, on which both were 
paid. He saw these institutions, in fact, exercising what had 
been considered, at all times and in all countries, one of the 
highest attributes of sovereignty, the regulation of the current 
medium of the country. They were no longer competent to 
assist the treasury in either of the great operations of collection, 
deposit or distribution of the public revenues. In fact, the paper 
which they emitted, and wliich the treasury, from the force of 
events, found itself constrained to receive, was constantly ob- 
etructing the operations of that department. For it would accu- 
mulate where it was not wanted, and could not be used where 
it ^vas wanted for the purposes of government, without a ruinous 
and arbitrary brokerage. Every man who paid or received 
from the government, paid or received as much less than he 
ought to have done, as was the difference between the medium 
in which the payment was effected, and specie. Taxes were no 
longer uniform. In New England, where specie payments have 
not been suspended, the people were called upon to pay larger 
contributions than where they were suspended. In Kentucky, 
as much more was paid by the people in their taxes than was 
paid, for example, in the state of Ohio, as Kentucky paper was 
worth more tlian Ohio paper. 

It appeared to Mr. Clay that, in this condition of things, the 
general government could depend no longer upon these local 
institutions, multiplied and multiplying daily — coming into exis- 
tence by the breath of eighteen state sovereignties, some of 
which, by a single act of volition, had created twenty or thirty 
at a time. Even if the resumption of specie payments could 
have been anticipated, the general government remaining pas- 
sive, it did not seem to him that the general government ought 
longer to depend upon these local institutions exclusively for aid 
in its operations. But he did not believe it could be justly so 
anticipated. It was not the interest of all of them that the re- 
newal should take place of specie payments, and yet, without 
concert between all or most of them, it could not be effected. 
With regard to those disposed to return to a regular state of 
things, great difficulties might arise, as to the time of its com- 
mencement. 

Considering, then, that the state of the currency was such 
that no thinking man could contemplate it without the most se- 
rious alarm, that it threatened general distress, if it did not ulti- 
mately lead to convulsion and subversion of the government, it 



ON THE BANK aUESTION. 467 

appeared to him to be the duty of Congresis to apply a remedy, 
if a remedy could be devised. A national bank, with other 
auxiliary measures, was proposed as that remedy. Mr. Clay 
said he determined to examine the question, with as little preju- 
dice as possible arising from his Ibrmer opinion. He knew that 
the safest course to him, if he pursued a cold, calculating pru- 
dence, was to adhere to that opinion, right or wrong. He waa 
perfectly aware that if he changed, or seemed to change it, he 
should expose himself to some censure. But, looking at the 
subject with the light shed upon it by events happening since 
the commencement of the war, he could no longer doubt. A 
bank appeared to him not only necessary, but indispensably 
necessary, in connexion with another measure, to remedy the 
evils of whicli all were but too sensible. He preferred, to the 
suggestions of the pride of consistency, the evident interests 
of the community, and determined to tiirow himself upon their 
candor and justice. That which appeared to him in 1811, under 
the state of things then existing, not to be necessary to the gene- 
ral government, seemed now to be necessary, under the present 
state of things. Had he then foreseen what now exists, and no 
objection had laid against the renewal of the charter, other than 
that derived from the constitution, he should have voted for the 
renewal. 

Other provisions of the constitution, but little noticed, if no- 
ticed at all, on the discussions in Congress in 1811, would seem 
to urge that body to exert all its powers to restore to a sound 
state the money of the country. That instrument confers upon 
Congress the power to coin money, and to regulate the value 
of foreign coins ; and the states are prohibited to coin money, 
to emit bills of credit, or to make any thing but gold and silver 
coin a tender in payment of debts. The plain inference is, that 
the subject of the general currency was intended to be submit- 
ted exclusively to the general government. In point of fact, 
however, the regulation of the general currency is in the hands 
of the state governments, or, which is the same thing, of the 
banks created by them. Their paper has every quality of money 
except that of being made a tender, and even this is imparted 
to it by some slates, in the law by which a creditor must receive 
it; or submit to a ruinous suspension of the payment of his debt 
It was incumbent upon Congress to recover the control which 
it had lost over the general currency. The remedy called for 
was one of caution and moderation, but of firmness. Whether 
a remedy, directly acting upon the banks and their paper thrown 
into circulation, was in the power of the general government or 
not, neither Congress nor the community were prepared for the 
application of such a remedy. An indirect remedy, of a milder 
character, seemed to be furnished by a national bank. Going 
into operation with the powerful aid of the treasury of the Uni- 
ted States, he believed it would be highly instrumental in the 
renewal of specie payments. Coupled with the other measura 



468 ON THE BANK aUESTION. 

adopted by Congress for that object, he believed the remedy 
effectual. The local banks must follow the example, which the 
national bank would set them, of redeeming their notes by the 
payment of specie, or their notes will be discredited and put 
down. 

If the constitution, then, warranted the establishment of a 
bank, other considerations, besides those already mentioned, 
strongly urged it. The want of a general medium is every 
where felt. Exchange varies continually, not only between dif- 
ferent parts of the Union, but between different parts of the same 
city. If the paper of a national bank were not redeemed in 
specie, it would be mucli better than the current paper, since, 
althougji its value, in comparison Avith specie, might fluctuate, 
it would afford an uniform standard. 

If political power be incidental to banking corporations, there 
ought perhaps to be in the general government some counter- 
poise to that which is exerted by the states. Such a counter- 
poise might not indeed be so necessary, if the states exercised 
the power to incorporate banks equally, or in proportion to their 
respective populations. But that is not the case. A single state 
has a banking capital equivalent, or nearly so, to one-fifth of the 
whole banking capital of the United States. Four states, com- 
bined, have tiie major pa'rt of tlie banking capital of the United 
States. In the event of any convulsion, in which the distribu- 
tion of banking institutions might be important, it may be urged 
that the mischief would not be alleviated by the creation of a 
national bank, since its location must be within one of the 
states. But in this respect the location of the bank is extremely 
favorable, being in one of the micklle states, not likely, from its 
position as well as its loyalty, to concur in any scheme for sub- 
verting the government. And a suflicient security against such 
contingency is to be found in the distribution of branches in 
different states, acting and reacting upon the parent institution, 
and upon each other. 



ADDRESS. 469 



ADDRESS 

To the people of the Congressional District composed ofihecottn- 
ties of Fayette, Woodford and Clarke, in Kentucky, 1S24. 

The relations of your representative and of your neighbor, in 
which I have so long stood, and in which I have experienced so 
many strong proofs of your confidence, attachment, and friend- 
ship, having just been, the one terminated, and the other sus- 
pended, I avail myself of the occason on taking, I hope a tempo- 
rary, leave of you, to express my unfeigned gratitude for all your 
favors, and to assure you that 1 shall cherish a fond and unceas- 
ing recollection of them. The extraordinary circumstances in 
which, during the late session of Congress, 1 have been placed, 
and the unmerited animadversions which I have brought upon 
mysellj for an honest and faithful discharge of my public duty, 
form an additional motive lor this appeal to your candor and jus- 
tice. If, in the office which I have just left, I have abused your 
confidence and betrayed your interests, I cannot deserve your 
support in that on the duties of which I have now entered. On 
the contrary, should it appear that 1 have been assailed without 
just cause, and that misguided zeal and interested passions have 
singled me out as a victim, I cannot doubt that I shall cotinue to 
find, in the enlightened tribunal of the public, that cheering coun- 
tenance and impartial judgment, without which a public servant 
cannot possibly discharge with advantage the trust confided to 
him. 

It is known to you, that my name had been presented, by the 
respectable states of Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri, 
for the office of President, to the consideration of the American 
pubhc, and that it had attracted some attention in other quarters 
of the Union. When, early in November last, I took my depar- 
ture from the district to repah to this city, the issue of the Presi- 
dential election before the people was unknown. Events, how- 
ever, had then so far transpired as to render it highly probable 
that there would be no election by the people, and that I should 
be excluded from the House of Representatives. It became, 
therefore, my duty to consider, and to make up an opinion on, thu 
respective pretensions of the three gentlemen that might be re- 
turned, and at that early period I stated to Dr. Drake, one of the 
professors in the Medical school of Transylvania University, and 
to John .T. Crittenden, Esq., of Frankibrt, my determination to 
support Mr. Adams in preference to Gen. Jackson. I wrote to 
Charles Hammond, Esq., of Cincinnati, about the same time, and 
mentioned certain objections to the election of Mr. Crawford, 
(among which was that of his continued ill health,) that appear- 
ed to me almost insuperable. During my journey hither, and 
up to near Christmas, it remained uncertain whether Mr. Craw- 
40 



m ADDRESS. 

ford or I would be returned to tlie House of Representatives.— 
Up to near Christmas, all our information made it highly proba- 
ble that the vote of Louisiana would be given to nie, and that I 
should consequently be returned, to the exclusion of Mr. Craw- 
ford. And, whilst that probability was strong, I communicated 
to Mr. Senator Johnston, from Louisiana, my resolution not to 
allow my name, in consequence of the small number of votes by 
which it would be carried into the house, if I were returned, to 
constitute an obstacle, for one moment, to an election in the 
House of Representatives. 

During the month of December, and the greater part of Janu- 
ary, strong professions of high consideration, and of unbounded 
admiration of me, were made to my friends, in the greatest pro- 
fusion, by some of the active I'riends of all the returned candi- 
dates. Every body professed to regret, after 1 was excluded i'rom 
tlie house, that I had not been returned to it. I seemed to be the 
favorite of every body. Describing my situation to a distant 
friend, 1 said to him, '* I am enjoying, whilst alive, the posthu- 
mous honors which are usually awarded to the venerated dead." 
A person not acquainted with human nature would have been 
surprised, in listening to these praises, that the object of therft 
had not been elected by general acclamation. None made more 
or warmer manifestations of tliese sentiments of esteem and ad- 
miration than some of the friends of Gen. Jackson. None were 
60 reserved as those of Mr. Adams; under an opinion, (as I have 
learnt since the election,) which they early imbibed, that the 
western vole would be only iniluenced by its own sense of pub- 
lic duty; and that if its jmlgment pointed to any other than Mr. 
Adams, nothing which Tliey could do would secure it to him. — 
These professions and nidtiilestations were taken by me for what 
tl'.ey were worth. I knew that tlie sunbeams would quickly dis- 
appear, after my opinion should be ascertained, and that they 
would be succeeded by a storm ; although I did not foresee ex- 
actly how ii would burst upon my poor head. I found myself 
transformed from a candidate before the people, into an elector 
lor the people, I deliberately examined the duties incident to 
this new attitude, anti weighed all the facts before me, upon 
which my judgment was to be formed or reviewed. If the eager- 
ness of any of the healed partisans of the respective candidates 
suggested a tardiness in the declaration of my intention, I believed 
that the new relation, in which I was placed to the subject, im- 
posed on me an obligation to pay some respect to delicacy and 
decorum. 

Meanwhile that very reserve supplied aliment to newspaper 
oj-iiicism. The critics could not comprehend how a man stand- 
ing as I had stood toward the other gen*lemen, should be re- 
strained, by a sense of propriety, from instantly lighting under 
the banners of one of them, against the others. Letters wen' i.s- 
sued from the manufactory at Washington, to come back, after 
performing long journeys, for Washington consumption. These 



ADDRESS. 471 

lettfers imputed to "Mr. Clay and his friends a mysterious air, a 
portentous silence," &c. From dark and distant hints the pro- 
gress was easy to open and bitter denunciation. Anonymous 
letters, full of menace and abuse, were almost daily poured in on 
me. Personal threats were communicated to me, through friend- 
ly organs, and I was kindly apprised of all the glories of village 
effigies which awaited me. A systematic attack was simultane- 
ously commenced upon me from Boston to Charleston, with an 
object, present and future, which it was impossible to mistake. — 
No man but myself could know the nature, extent, and variety 
of means which were employed to awe and influence me. I bore 
them, I trust, as your representative ought to have borne them, 
and as became me. Then Ibllowed the letter, afterwards adopt- 
ed as his own by Mr. Kremer, to the Columbian Observer. — 
With its character and contents you are Avell acquainted. When 
I saw that letter, alledged to be written by a member of the very 
house over which I was presiding, who was so far designated as 
to be described as belonging to a particular delegation, by name, 
a member with whom I might be daily exchanging, at least on 
my part, friendly salutations, and who was possibly receiving 
from me constantly acts of courtesy and kindness, I felt that I 
could no longer remain silent. A crisis appeared to me to have 
arisen in my public life. I issued my card. I ought not to have 
put in it the last paragraph, because, although it does not neces- 
sarily imply the resort to a personal combat, it admits of that 
construction : nor will I conceal, that such a possible issue was 
within my contemplation. I owe it to the community to say, that 
whatever heretofore I may have done, or by inevitable circum- 
stances, might be forced to do, no man in it holds in deeper ab- 
horrence than I do, that pernicious practice. Condemned as it 
must be by the judgment and philosophy, to say nothing of the 
religion, of every thinking man, it is an affair of feeling about 
•which we cannot, although we should, reason. Its true correc- 
tive will be found when all shall unite, as all ought to unite, in 
its unqualified proscription. 

A few days after the publication of my card, "Another Card," 
under Mr. Kremer's name, was published in the Intelligencer. — 
The night before, as I was voluntarily informed, Mr. Eaton, a 
Senator from Tennessee, and the biographer of Gen. Jackson, 
(who boarded in the end of this city opposite to that in which 
Mr. Kremer took up his abode, a distance of about two miles 
and a half) was closeted for some time with him. Mr. Kremer 
is entitled to great credit for having overcome all the disadvan- 
tages, incident to his early life and want of education, and forced 
his way to the honorable station of a member of the House of 
Representatives. Ardent in his attachment to the cause which 
he had espoused, Gen. Jackson is his idol, and of his blind zeal 
others have availed themselves, and have made him their dupe 
and their instrument. I do not pretend to know the object of 
Mr. Eaton'e visit to him. I state the fact, as it was communica- 



472 ADDRESS. 

ted to me, and leave you to judge, Mr. Kremer's card is com- 
posed with some care and no little art, and he ia made to avow 
in it, though somewhat equivocally, that he is the author of the 
letter to the Columbian Observer. To Mr. Crowninshield, a 
member from Massachusetts, Ibrmerly Secretary of the Navy, 
he declared tliat he was not the author of that letter. In his 
card, he draws a clear line of separation between my friends and 
me, acquitting them and undertaking to make good his charges, 
in that letter, only so far as I was concerned. The purpose of 
this discrimination is obvious. At that time the election was un- 
decided, and it was therefore as important to abstain from impu- 
tations against my friends, as it was politic to fix them upon me. 
If they could be made to believe that I had been perfidious, in 
the transport of their indignation, they might have been carried 
to the support of Gen. Jackson. I received the National Intelli- 
gencer, containing Mr. Kremer's card, at breakl'ast, (the usual 
time of its distribution,) on the morning of its publication. As 
soon as I read the card, I took my resolution. The terms of it 
clearly implied that it had not entered into his conception to have 
a personal aflair with me; and I should have justly exposed my- 
self to universal ridicule, if I had sought one with him. I deter- 
mined to lay the matter before the house, and respectfully to in- 
vite an investigation of my conduct. I accordingly made a com- 
munication to the house, on the same day, ti>e motives for which 
I assigned. Mr. Kremcr v;as in his place, and, when I sat down, 
rose and stated that he was prepared and willing to substantiate 
his charges against me. This was his voluntary declaration, 
unprompted by his aiders and abettors, who had no opportunity 
of previous consultation with him on that point. Here was an 
issue publicly and solemnly joined, in which the accused invoked 
an inquiry into serious charges against him, and the accuser pro- 
fessed an ability and a willingness to establish them. A debate 
ensued, on the next day, which occupied the greater part of it, 
during which Mr. Kremer declared to Mr Brent, of Louisiana, a 
friend of mine, and to Mr. Little, of Maryland, a Iriend of Gen. 
Jackson, as they have certified, " that he never intended to charge 
Mr. Clay with corruption or dishonor, in his intended vote for 
Mr. Adams, as President, or that he had transferred, or could 
transfer, the votes or interests of his friends ; that he (Mr. Kre- 
mer,) was among the last men in the nation to make such a 
choxge against Mr. Clay ; and that his letter was never intended 
to convey the idea given to it." Mr. Digges, a highly respecta- 
ble inhabitant of this city, has certified to the same declarations 
of Mr. Kremer. 

A message was also conveyed to me, during the discussion, 
through a member of the house, to ascertain if I would be satis- 
fied with an explanation which was put on paper and shown me, 
and which it was stated Mr. Kremer was willing, in his place, to 
make. I replied that the matter was in the possession of the 
house. I was afterwards told, that Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, 



ADDRESS. 473 

got hold of that paper, put it in his pocket, and that he advised 
Mr. Kremer to take no step without the approbation of his friends. 
Mr. Cook, of IlHnois, moved an adjournment of the house, on in- 
formation whicii he received of the probability of Mr. Kremer's 
making a satisiactory atonement on the next day, for the injury 
whicli he had done me, Avhich I have no doubt he woukl have 
made, if he had been left to the impulses of his native honesty. 
The liouse decided to refer my communication to a committee, 
and adjourned until the next day to appoint it by ballot. In the 
meantime Mr. Kremer had taken, I presume, or rather there had 
been forced upon him, the advice of his friends, and I heard no 
more of the apology. A committee was appointed of seven gen- 
tlemen, of wham not one was my pohtical iViend, but Avho were 
among the most eminent members of the body. I received no 
summons or notification I'rom the committee Irom its first organi- 
zation to its final dissolution, but Mr. Kremer was called upon 
by it to bring forward his proofs. For one moment be pleased 
to stop here and contemplate his posture, his relation to the house 
and to me, and the high obligations under which he had volun- 
tarily placed himself. He was a member of one of the most au- 
gust assemblies upon earth, of which he was bound to defend the 
purity or expose the corruption, by every consideration which 
ought to influence a patriot bosom. A most responsible and 
highly important constitutional duty was to be performed by that 
assembly. He had chosen in an anonymous letter, to bring 
against its presiding olhcer charges, in respect to that duty, of 
the most flagitious character. These charges comprehended de- 
legations from several highly respectable states. If true, that 
presiding officer merited not merely to be dragged from the 
chair, but to be expelled the house. He challenges an investi- 
gation into his conduct, and Mr. Kremer boldly accepts the chal- 
lenge, and promises to sustain his accusation. The committee, 
appointed by the house itself, with the common consent of both 
parties, calls upon Mr. Kremer to execute his pledge publicly 
given, in his proper place, and also previously given in the pub- 
lic prints. Here is the tlieatre of the alledged arrangements ; 
this the vicinage in which the trial ought to take place. Every 
thing was here fresh in the recollection of the witnesses, if there 
were any. Here all the proofs were concentrated. Mr. Kremer 
was stimulated by every motive which could impel to action; by 
his consistency of' character; by duty to his constituents — to his 
country ; by that of redeeming his solemn pledge ; by his anxious 
wish for the success of his favorite, whose interests could not fail 
to be advanced by supporting his atrocious charges. But Mr. 
Kremer had now the benefit of the advice of his friends. He had 
no proofs, lor the plainest of all reasons, because there was no 
trutli in his charges. They saw that to attempt to eetablisli them 
and to fail, as he must fail in the attempt, might lead to an expo- 
sure of the conspiracy, of what he was the organ. They advised 
40* 



474 ADDRESS. 

therefore that he should make a retreat, and their adroitness 
suggested, that in an objection to that jurisdiction of the housej 
which had been admitted, and in the popular topics of the free- 
dom of the press, his duty to his constituents, and the inequahty 
in the condition of the speaker of the house, and a member on 
the floor, plausible means might be found to deceive the ignorant 
and conceal his disgrace. A labored communication was accor- 
dingly prepared by them, in Mr. Kremer's name, and transmitted 
to the committee, founded upon these suggestions. Thus the 
valiant champion, who had boldly stepped forward, and promised 
as a representative of the people, to '■ cry aloud and spare not," 
forgot all his gratuitous gallantry and boasted patriotism, and 
sunk at once into profound silence. 

With these remarks. I will, for the present, leave him, and pro- 
ceed to assign the reasons to you, to wiioin alone I admit myself 
to be officially responsible, ibr the vote which I gave on the Pre- 
sidential election. The fiist inquiry which it behoved me to make 
was, as to the influence which ought to be exerted on my judg- 
ment, by the relative state of the electoral votes which (he three 
returned candidates brought into the house, from the colleges. — 
Gen. Jackson obtained ninety-nine, Mr. A(lains eighty-four, and 
Mr. Crawford forty-one. Ought the fact of a plurality being 
given to one of the candidates to have any, and what, weight? 
If the constitution had intended that it should have been decisive, 
the constitution would have made it decisive, and interdicted the 
exercise of any discretion on the part of the House of Represen- 
tatives. The constitution has not so ordained, but, on the con- 
trary, it has provided, that "from the persons having the highest 
numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted lor a« 
President, the House of Representatives shall choose, immedi- 
ately, by ballot, a President." Thus a discretion is necessarily 
invested in the house — for choice implies examination, compari- 
son, judgment. The Ihct, therefore, that one ol' the three persorja 
was the highest returned, not being, by the constitution of the 
country, conclusive upon the judgment of the liouse, it still re- 
mains to determine what is the true degree of weight belonging 
to it? It has been contended that it should operate, if not as an 
instruction, at least in the nature of one, and that in this form it 
should control the judgment of the house. But this is the same 
argument of conclusiveness, which the constitution does not en- 
join, thrown into a different, but more imt)osiiig shape. Let me 
analyze it. There are certain states, the aggregate of whose 
electoral votes conferred upon the highest returned candidate, 
indicates their wish that he should be the President. Their votes 
amount in number to ninety-nine, oat of two hundred and sixty- 
one electoral votes of the whole Union. Tliese ninety-nine do 
not, and catmot, of themselves, make the President. If the fact 
of particular states giving ninety-inne votes, can, according to 
any received notions of die doctrine of instruction, be regarded 
in that light, to vviioni are those instructions to be considered ad- 



ADDRESS. 475 

dressed? According to thg^t doctrine, the people, who appoint, 
have the right to direct, by their instruction, in certain cases, th« 
course of the representative whom they appoint. The states, 
therefore, who gave those ninety-nine votes, may in some sense 
be understood thereby to have instructed their representatives in 
the house to vote for the person on whom tliey were bestowed, in 
the choice of a President. But most clearly the representatives 
coming from other states, which gave no part of those ninety- 
nine votes, cannot be considered as having been under any obli- 
gation to surrender their judgments to those of the states which 
gave the ninety-nine voles. To contend that they are under 
«uch an obligation would be to maintain that the people of one 
atate have a right to instruct the representatives from another 
state. It would be to maintain a still more absurd proposition, 
that, in a case where the representatives from a state did not 
hold themselves instructed and bound by the will of that state, 
as indicated in its electoral college, the representatives from 
another state were, nevertheless, instructed and bound by that 
alien will. Thus the entire vote of North Carolina, and a large 
majority of that of Maryland, in their respective electoral colle- 
ges, were given to one of the three returned candidates, for whom 
the delegation from neither of those states voted. And yet the 
argument combatted requires that the delegation from Kentucky, 
who do not represent the people of North Carolina nor Maryland, 
should be instructed by, and give an effect to, the indicated will 
of the people of those two states, when their own delegation paid 
no attention to it. Doubtless, those delegations felt themselves 
authorised to look into the actual composition of, and all other 
circumstances connected with, the majorities which gave the 
electoral votes, in their respective states; and felt themselves jus- 
tified, Irom a view of the whole ground, to act upon their respon- 
sibility and according to their best judgments, disregarding the 
electoral votes in their states. And are representatives from a 
different state not only bound by the will of the people of a dif- 
ferent commonwealth, bvit ibrbidden to examine into the manner 
by which the expression of that will was brought about — an ex- 
amination which the immediate representatives themselves feel 
it their duty to make? 

Is the tact, then, of a plurality to have no weight? Far from 
it. Here are twenty-four communities, united under a common 
government. The expression of the will of any one of them is 
entitled to the most respectful attention. It ought to be patiently 
heard and kindly regarded by the others; but i. cannot be ad- 
mitted to be conclusive upon them. The expression of the Avill 
of ninety-nine out of two hundred and sixty-one electors is en- 
titled to very great attention, but that will cannot be considered 
as entiled to control the will of tlie one hundred and sixty-two 
electors who have manifested a different will. To give it such 
controlling influence, would be a subversion of the fundamental 
maxim of the republic — that the majority should govern. The 



476 ADDRESS. 

will of the ninety-nine can neither be allowed rightfully to con- 
trol the remaining one hundred and sixty-two, nor any one of 
the one hundred and sixty -two electoral votes. It may be an 
argument, a persuasion, addressed to all and to each of them, 
but it is binding and obligatory upon none. It follows, then, that 
the fact of a plurality was only one among the various conside- 
rations which the House was called upon to weigh, in making 
tip its judgment. And the weight of the consideration ought to 
have been regulated by the extent of the plurality. As between 
General Jackson and Mr. Adams, the vote standing in the pro- 
portions of ninety-nine to eighty-four, it was entitled to lees 
weight; as between the General and Mr. Crawford, it was enti- 
tled to more, the vote being as ninety-nine to forty-one. The 
concession may even be made that, upon the supposition of an 
equality of pretensions between competing candidates, the pre- 
ponderance ought to be given to the fact of a plurality. 

With these views of the relative state of the vote with which 
the three returned candidates entered the House, I proceeded to 
examine the other considerations which belonged to the ques- 
tion. For Mr. CrawforJ, who barely entered the House, with 
only four votes more than one candidate not returned, and vipon 
whose case, therelbre, the argument derived from the fact of 
plurality operated with strong, though not decisive force, I have 
ever felt mucli personal regard. But I was called upon to per- 
form a solemn public duty, in which my private leelings, whether 
of affection or aversion, were not to be indulged, but the good 
of my country only consulted. It appeared to me that the pre- 
carious state of that gentleman's health, although I participated 
with his best friends in all their regrets and sympathies on ac- 
count of it, was conclusive against him, to say nothing of other 
considerations, of a public nature, which would have deserved 
examination, ii", happily, in that respect he had been differently 
circumstanced. He had been ill near eighteen months; and, 
although I am aware that his actual condition was a fact de- 
pending upon evidence, and that the evidence in regard to 
it, which had been presented to the public, was not perfectly 
harmonious; I judged for myself upon what I saw and heard. 
He may, and I ardently hope will, recover; but I did not think 
it became me to assist in committing the executive administra- 
tion of this great republic on the doubtful contingency of the 
restoration to heaUb of a gentleman who had been so long and 
so seriously afflicted. Moreover, if, under all the circumstances 
of his situation, his election had been desirable, I did not think 
it practicable. I believed, and yet believe, that, if the votes of 
the western states, given to Mr. Adams, had been conferred on 
Mr. Crawford, the eflrct would have been to protract in the 
House the decision of the contest, to the great agitation and 
distraction of the country, and possibly to defeat an election 
altogether— the very worst result, I thought, that could happen. 
It appeared to me, then, that, sooner or later, we must arrive at 



ADDRESS. 477 

the only practical issue of the contest before us, and that wae 
between Mr. Adams and General Jackson, and I thought that 
the earlier we got there, the better for the country, and for the 
House. 

In considering this only alternative, I was not unaware of your 
strong desire to have a western President; but I thought that I 
knew enough of your'patriotism and magnanimity, displayed on 
60 many occasions, to believe that you could rise above the 
mere gratification of sectional pride, if the common good of the 
whole required you to make the sacrifice of local partiality. I 
eolemnly believed it did, and this brings me to the most impor- 
tant consideration which belonged to the whole subject — that 
arising out of the respective fitness of the only two real com- 
petitors, as it appeared to my best judgment. In speaking of 
General Jackson, I am aware of the delicacy and respect which 
are justly due to tliat distinguished citizen. It is far from my 
purpose to attempt to disparage him. I could not do it if I were 
capable of making the attempt; but 1 shall nevertheless speak 
of him as becomes me, with truth. I did not believe him so 
competent to discharo-e the various, intricate and complex du- 
ties of the office of Chief Magistrate, as his competitor. He 
has displayed great skill and bravery as a military commander, 
and his renown will endure as long as the means exist of pre- 
serving a recollection of human transactions. But to be quali- 
fied to discharge the duties of President of the United States, 
the incumbent must have more than mere military attainments — 
he must be a statesman. An individual may be a gallant and 
successful general, an eminent lawyer, an eloquent divine, a 
learned physician, or an accomplished artist; and doubtless the 
union of all these characters in the person of a Chief Magistrate 
would be desirable; but no one of them, nor all combined, will 
qualify him to be President, unless he superadds that indispensa- 
ble requisite of being a statesman. Far from meaning to eay 
that it is an objection to the elevation, to the Chief Magistracy, 
of any person, that he is a military commander, if he unites the 
other qualifications, I only intend to say that, whatever may be 
the success or splendor of his military achievements, if his quali- 
fications be only military, that is an objection, and, I think, a 
decisive objection, to his election. If General Jackson has ex- 
hibited, either in the councils of the Union, or in those of his own 
state, or in those of any other state or territory, the qualitiea 
of a statesman, the evidence of the fact has escaped my observa- 
tion. It would be as painful as it is unnecessary to recapitulate 
some of the incidents, which must be fresh in your recollection, 
of his public life. But I was greatly deceived in my judgment 
if they proved him to be endowed with that prudence, temper 
and discretion which are necessary for civil administration. It 
■was in vain to remind me of the illustrious example of Washing- 
ton. There was in that extraordinary person united a serenity 
of mind, a cool and collected wisdom, a cautious and deUberat* 



17^ ADDRESS. 

'jadgment, a perfect command of the passions, and, throughotif 
nis whole life, a familiarity and acquaintance with business and 
civil transactions which rarely characterize any human being. 
No man was ever more deeply penetrated than he was with pro- 
found respect for the safe and necessary principle of the entire 
subordination of the military to the civil authority. I hope I do 
no injustice to General Jackson when I say, that I could not 
recognize, in his public conduct, those attainments, for both civil 
government and military command, which cotemporaries and 
posterity have alike unanimously concurred in awarding as yet 
only to the father of his country. I was sensible of the grati- 
tude which the people of this country justly feel towards General 
Jackson for his brilliant military services. But the impulses of 
public gratitude should be controlled, as it appeared to me, by 
reason and discretion, and I was not prepared blindly to surren- 
der myself to the hazardous indulgence of a feeling, however 
amiable and excellent that feeling may be when properly direct- 
ed. It did not seem to me to be wise or prudent, if, as I solemnly 
believe. General Jackson's competency for the office was highly 
questionable, that he should be placed in a situation where nei- 
ther his fame nor the public interests would be advanced. Gen- 
eral Jackson himself would be the last man to recommend or 
vote for any one for a place for which he thought hrm unfit. I 
felt myself sustained by his own reasoning, in his letter to Mr. 
Monroe, in which, speaking of the qualifications of our venerable 
Shelby for the Department of War, he remarked : " I am com- 
pelled to say to you, that the acquirements of this worthy man 
are not competent to the discharge of the multiplied duties of 
this department. I therefore hope he may not accept the ap- 
pointment. I am fearful, if he does, he will not add much splen- 
dor to his present well-earned standing as a public character.'* 
Such was my opinion of General Jackson, in reference to the 
Presidency. His conviction of Governor Shelby's unfitness, by 
the habits of his life, for the appointment of Secretary of War, 
were not more honest nor stronger than mine were of his own 
want of experience, and the necessary civil qualifications to dis- 
charge the duties of a President of the United States. In his 
elevation to this office, too, I thought I perceived the establish- 
ment of a fearful precedent j and I am mistaken in all the warn- 
ings of instructive history, if I erred in my judgment. Un- 
doubtedly there are other and many dangers to public liberty, 
besides that which proceeds from military idolatry, but I have 
yet to acquire the knowledge of it, if there be one more perilous 
or more fi-equent. 

Whether Mr. Adams would or would not have been my choice 
of a President, if I had been left freely to select from the whole 
mass of American citizens, was not the question submitted to 
my decision. I had no such liberty; but I was circumscribed, in 
the selection I had to make, to one of the three gentlemen whom 
th% people themeelvee had thought proper to present to the 



ADDRESS. 479 

House of Representatives. Whatever objections might be sup- 
posed to exist against him, still greater appeared to me to apply- 
to his competitor. Of Mr. Adams, it is but truth and justice to 
Bay, that he is highly gifted, profoundly learned, and long and 
greatly experienced in public afiairs, at home and abroad. Inti- 
mately conversant with the rise and progress of every negotia- 
tion with foreign powers, pending or concluded ; personally ac- 
quainted with the capacity and attainments of most of the pub- 
lic men of this country whom it might be proper to employ 
in the public service ; extensively possessed of much of that 
valuable kind of information which is to be acquired neither 
from books nor tradition, but which is the fruit of largely partici- 
pating in public affairs; discreel and sagacious; he would enter 
on the duties of the office with great advantages. I saw in his 
election the establishment of no dangerous example. I saw in 
it, on the contrary, only conformity to the safe precedents which 
had been established in the instances of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madi- 
t-on and Mr. Monroe, who had respectively filled the sajne office 
from which he was to be translated. 

A collateral consideration of much Aveight was derived from 
the wishes of the Ohio delegation. A majority of it, during 
the progress of the session, made up their opinions to support 
Mr. Adams, and they were communicated to me. They said, 
'■ Ohio supported the candidate who was the choice of Kentucky. 
We failed in our common exertions to secure his election. Now, 
among those returned, Ave have a decided preference, and we 
think you ought to make some sacrifice to gratify us." Was not 
much due to our neighbor and friend 1 

I considered, with the greatest respect, the resolution of the 
General Assembly of Kentucky, requesting the delegation to 
vcte for General Jackson. That resolution, it is true, placed us 
in a peculiar situation. Whilst every other delegation, from 
every other state in the Union, was left by its Legislature en- 
tirely free to examine the pretensions of all the candidates, and 
to tbrm its unbiassed judgment, the General Assembly of Ken- 
tucky thought proper to interpose, and request the delegation 
to give its vote to one of the candidates, whom they were pleased 
to designate. I felt a sincere desire to comply with a request 
emanating from a source so respectable, if I could have done so 
consistently with those paramount duties Avhich I owed to you 
and to the country. But, after full and anxious consideration, I 
found it incompatible with my best judgment of those duties to 
conform to the request of the General Assembly. The resolu- 
tion asserts that it Avas the Avish of the people of Kentucky that 
their delegation should vote for the General. It did not inform 
me by Avhat means that body had arrived at a knoAvledge of the 
Avish of the people. I kneAV that its members had repaired to 
Frankfort belbre I departed from home to come to Washington. 
I kncAv that their attention Avas fixed on important local con- 
cerns, Avell entitled, by their magnitude, exclusively to engross 



480 ADDRESS. 

it. No election, no general expression of the popular sentiment, 
had occurred since that in November, when electors were chosen, 
and at that the people, by an overwhelming majority, had de- 
cided against General Jackson. I could not see how such an 
expression against him, could be interpreted into that ol' a de- 
sire /or his election. If, as is true, the candidate whom they 
preferred was not returned to the House, it is equally true that 
the state of the contest, as it presented itself here to me, had 
never been considered, discussed and decided by the people of 
Kentucky, in their collective capacity. What would have been 
their decision on this new state of the question, I might have 
undertaken to conjecture, but the certainty of any conclusion 
of fact, as to their opinion, at which I could arrive, was by no 
means equal to that certainty of conviction of my duty to which 
I was carried by the exertion of my best and most deliberate 
reflections. The letters from home, which some of the delega- 
tion received, expressed the most opposite opinions, and there 
were not wanting instances of letters from some of the very 
members who had voted for that resolution, advising a different 
course. I received from a highly respectable portion of my con- 
stituents a paper, instructing me as follows: "We the under- 
signed voters in the Congressional district, having viewed the 
instruction or requesi of the Legislature of Kentucky, on the 
subject of choosing a President and Vice President of the Uni- 
ted States, with regret, and the said request or instruction to 
our Representative in Congress from this district being without 
our knowledge or consent^ we, for many reasons known to our- 
selves, connected with so momentous an occasion, hereby in- 
struct our Representative in Congress to vote on this occasion 
agreeably to his own judgment, and by the best lights he may 
have on the subject, Avith or without the consent of the Legisla- 
ture of Kentucky." This instruction came both unexpectedly 
and unsolicited by me, and it was accompanied by letters as- 
suring me that it expressed the opinion of a majority of my 
constituents. I could not, therefore, regard the resolution as 
conclusive evidence of your wishes. 

Viewed as a mere request, as it purported to be, the general 
assembly doubtless had the power to make it. But, then, with 
great deference, I think it was worthy of serious consideration 
whether the dignity of the general assembly ought not to have 
induced it to forbear addressing itself, not to another legislative 
body, but to a small part of it, and requesting the members who 
composed that part, in a case which the constitution had con- 
fided to them, to vote according to the wishes of the general 
assembly, whether those wishes did or did not conform to their 
sense of duty. I could not regard the resolution as an instruc- 
tion ; for, from the origin of our state, its legislature has never 
assumed nor exercised the right to instruct the representatives 
in Congress. I did not recognize the right, therefore, of the 
- ""loture to instruct me. I recognized that right only wheo 



ADDRESS. 481 

exerted by you. That the portion of the public servants who 
made up the general assembly have no right to instruct that 
portion of them who constituted the Kentucky delegation in the 
House of Representatives, is a proposition too clear to be ar- 
gued. The members of the general assembbly would have 
been the first to behold as a presumptuous interposition, any in- 
struction, if the Kentucky delegation could have committed the 
absurdity to issue, from this place, any instruction to them to 
vote in a particular manner on any of the interesting subjects 
which lately engaged their attention at Frankfort. And al- 
though nothing is further from my intention than to impute 
eidier absurdity or presumption to the general assembly, the 
adoption of the resolution referred to, I must say, that the difter- 
ence between an instruction emanating from them to the dele- 
gation, and from the delegation to them, is not in principle, but 
is to be found only in the degree of superior importance which 
belongs to the general assembly. 

Entertaining these views of the election on which it was made 
my duty to vote, I felt myself bound, in the exercise of my best 
judgment, to prefer Mr. Adams ; and I accordingly voted for 
him. I should have been highl}^ gratified if it had not been my 
duty to vote on the occasion; but that was not my situation, and 
I did not choose to shrink from any responsibility which apper- 
tained to your representative. Shortly after the election, it was 
rumored that Mr. Kremer was preparing a publication, and the 
preparations for it which were making excited much expectation. 
Accordingly, on the twenty-sixth of February, the address, 
under his name, to the " Electors of the Ninth Congressional 
District of the State of Pennsylvania," made its appearance in 
the Washington City Gazette. No member of the house, I am 
persuaded, believed that Mr. Kremer wrote one paragraph of 
that address, or of the plea, which was presented to the commit- 
tee, to the jurisdiction of the house. Those who counselled him, 
and composed both papers, and their purposes, were just as well 
known as the author of any report from a committee to the 
house. The first observation which is called for by the address 
is the place of its publication. That place was in this city, re- 
mote from the centre of Pennsylvania, near which Mr, Kremer's 
district is situated, and in a paper having but a very limited, if 
any circulation in it The time is also remarkable. The fact 
that the President intended to nominate me to the senate for the 
office which I now hold, in the course of a few days, was then 
well known, and the publication of the address was, no doubt, 
made less with an intention to communicate information to the 
electors of the ninth Congressional District of Pennsylvania, 
than to aftect the decision of the Senate on the intended nomina- 
tion. Of the character and contents of that address of Messrs. 
George Kremer &. Co., made up, as it is, of assertion without 
proof, of inferences without premises, and of careless, jocose, and 
41 



482 ADDRESS. 

quizzing conversations of some of my friends, to which I was no 
party, and of which I had never heard, it is not my intention to 
tay much. It carried its own refutation, ar.d the parties con- 
cerned saw its abortive nature the next day, in the indignant 
countenance of every unprejudiced and honorable member. In 
his card, Mr. Kremer liad been made to say, that he held him- 
self ready " to prove, to the satisfaction of unprejudiced minds, 
enough to satisty them of the accuracy of the statements which 
are contained in that letter, to the extent that they coiicern the 
course of conduct of H. Clai/." The object for excluding my 
friends Irom this pledge has been noticed. But now the election 
was decided, and there no longer existed a motive lor discrimin- 
ating between them and me. Hence the only statements that 
are made, in the address, having the semblance of proof, relate 
rather to them than to me ; and the design was, by establishing 
something like facts upon them, to make those fact^ react upon 
me. 

Of the few topics of the address upon which I shall remark, 
the first is, the accusation, brought forward against me, of vio- 
lating instructions. If the accusation were true, who was the 
party offended, and to whom was I amenable 1 If I violated 
any instructions, they must have been yours, since you only had 
the right to give them, and to you alone was I responsible. 
Without allowing hardly time for you to hear of my vote, with- 
out waiting to know what your judgment was of my conduct, 
George Kremer & Co. chose to arraign me betbrc the American 
public as the violator of instructions v.'hich I was bound to obey. 
If, instead of being, as you are, and I hope always will be, vigi- 
lant observers of llie conduct of your public agents, jealous of 
your rights, and competent to protect and defend them, you had 
been ignorant and culpably confiding, the gratuitous interposi- 
tion, as your advocate, of the honorable George Kremer, of the 
ninth Congressional District in Pennsylvania, would have merit- 
ed your most grateful acknowledgments. Even upon that sup- 
position, his arraignment of me would have required for its sup- 
port one small circumstance, which happens not to exist, and 
that is, the fact of your having actually instructed me to vote 
according to his pleasure. 

The relations in which I stood to Mr. Adams constitute the 
next theme of the address, which I shall notice. I am described 
as having assumed " a position of peculiar and decided hostihty 
to the election of Mr. Adams," and expressions towards him are 
attributed to me, which I never used. I am made also responsi- 
ble for " pamphlets and essays of great ability," published by my 
friends in Kentucky in the course of the canvass. The injustice 
of the principle of holding me thus answerable, may be tested 
by applying it to the case of General Jackson, in reference to 
publications issued, for example, from the Columbia Observer. 
That I was not in favor of the election of Mr. Adams, when the 
eontest was before the people, is moet certain. Neither was I 



ADDRESS. 483 

in favor of that of Mr. Crawford or General Jackson. That I 
ever did any thing against Mr. Adams, or either of the other 
gentlemen, inconsistent with a fair and honorable competition, I 
utterly deny. My relations to Mr. Adams have been the suo- 
ject of much misconception, if not misrepresentation. I have 
-been stated to be under a public pledge to expose some nefari- 
ous conduct of that gentleman, during the negotiation at Ghent, 
which would prove him to be entirely unworthy of public confi- 
dence ; and that with a knowledge of his perfidy, I nevertheless 
voted for him. If these imputations are well founded, I should, 
indeed, be a fit object for public censure ; but it] on the contrary, 
it shall be found that others, inimical both to him and to me, 
have substituted their own interested wishes for my public pro- 
mises, I trust that the indignation, which they would excite, will 
be turned from me. My letter, addressed to the editors of the 
Intelligencer, under date of the fifteenth of November, 1822, is 
made the occasion for ascribmg to me the promise and the 

E ledge to make those treasonable disclosures on Mr. Adams. 
.et that letter speak for itself, and it will be seen how little jus- 
tification there is for such an assertion. It adverts to the con- 
troversy which had arisen between Messrs. Adams and Russell, 
and then proceeds to state that, " in the course of several publi- 
cations, ot which it has been the occasion, and, particularly In 
the appendix to a pamphlet which had been recently published 
by the Hon. John Q,uincy Adams, I think there are some errors, 
no doubt unintentional, both as to matters of I'act and matters of 
opinion, in regard to the transactions at Ghent, relating to the 
navigation of the Mississippi, and certain liberties claimed by 
the United States in the fisheries, atid to the part which I bore 
in tJiose transactions. These important interests are now well 
secured," — " An account, therefore, of what occurred in the ne- 
gotiation at Ghent, on those two subjects, is not, perhaps, neces- 
sary to the present or future security of any of the rights of the 
nation, and is only interesting as appertaining to its past history. 
With these impressions, and being extremely unwilling to pre- 
Ecnt myself, at any time, before the public, I had almost resolved 
to remain silent, and thus expose myself to the inference of an 
acquiescence in the correctness of all the statements made by 
both my colleagues ; but I have, on more reflection, thought it 
may be expected of me, and be considered as a duty on my 
part, to contribute all in my power towards a full and faithfiil 
understanding of the transactions referred to. Under this con- 
viction, I will, at some future period, more propitious than the 
present to calm and dispassionate consideration, and when there 
can be no misinterpretation of motives, lay before the public a 
narrative of those transactions, as I understood them." 

From even a careless perusal of that letter, it is apparent, that 
the only two subjects of the negotiations at Ghent, to which it 
refers, were the navigation of the Mississippi and certain fishing 
liberties; that the errors, which I had supposed were committed, 



484 ADDRESS, 

applied to both Mr. Russell and Mr. Adams, though more par- 
ticularly to the appendix of the latter ; that they were uninten- 
tional ; that they affected myself principally ; that I deemed 
them of no public importance, as connected with the then, or 
future, security of any of the rights of the nation, but only inter- 
resting to its past history; that I doubted the necessity of my 
offering to the public any account of those transactions ; and 
that the narrative which I promised was to be presented at a 
season of more calm, and when there could be no misinterpreta- 
tion of motives. Although Mr. Adams believes otherwise, I yet 
think there are some unintentional errors, in the controversial 
papers between him and Mr. Russell. But I have reserved to 
myself an exclusive right of judging when I shall execute the 
promise which I have made, and I shall be neither quickened 
nor retarded in its performance, by the friendly anxieties of any 
of my opponents. 

If injury accrue to any one by the delay in publishing the nar- 
rative, the public will not suffer by it. It is already known by the 
publication of the British and American projets, the protocols, 
and the correspondence between the respective plenipotentiarieSj 
that the British government made at Ghent a demand of the 
navigation of the Mississippi, by an article in their projet nearly 
in the same words as those which were employed in the treaty 
of 1783 ; that a majority of the American commissioners was in 
llivor of acceding to that demand, upon the condition that th& 
British government would concede to us the same fishing liber- 
ties, within their jurisdiction, as were secured to us by the same 
treaty of 1783 ; and that both demands were finally abandoned. 
The iact of these mutual propositions Avas communicated by me 
to the American public in a speech which I delivered in the 
House of Representatives, on the twenty-ninth day of January, 
1816. Mr. Hopkinson had arraigned the terms of the treaty of 
peace, and charged upon the war and the administration, the 
loss of the fishing liberties, within the British jurisdiction, which 
we enjoyed prior to the war. In vindicating, in my reply to 
him, the course of the government, and the conditions of the 
peace, I stated : 

" When the British commissioners demanded, in their projet, 
a renewal to Great Britain of the right to the navigation of the 
Mississippi, secured by the treaty of 1783, a bare majority of the 
American commissioners offered to renew it, upon the condition 
that the liberties in. question were renewed to us. He was not 
one of that majority. He would not trouble the committee with 
his reasons for being opposed to the offer. A majority of his 
colleagues, actuated, he believed, by the best motives, made, 
however, the offer, and it was refused by the British commis- 
sioners." [See Daily National Intelligencer, of the twenty-first 
of March, 1S16.] And what I thought of my colleagues of the 
majority, appears from the same extract. The spring after the 
termination of the negotiations at Ghent, I went to London, and 



ADDRESS. 485 

entered upon a new and highly important negotiation with two 
of them, (Messrs. Adams and Gallatin,) which resulted, on the 
tliird day of July, 1815, in the commercial convention, which 
has been since made the basis of most of our commercial ar- 
rangements with foreign powers. Now, if I had discovered at 
Ghent, as has been asserted, that either of them was false and 
faithless to his country, would I have voluntarily commenced 
with them another negotiation ? Further : there never has been 
a period, during our whole acquaintance, that Mr. Adams and I 
have not exchanged when we have met, friendly salutations, and 
the courtesies and hospitalities of social intercourse. 

The address proceeds to characterize the support which I 
gave to Mr. Adams as unnatural. The authors of the address 
have not stated why it is imnatural, and we are therefore left to 
conjecture their meaning. Is it because Mr. Adams is from 
New England, and I am a citizen of the west? If it be unna- 
tural in the western states to support a citizen of New England, 
it must be equally unnatural in the New England states to sup- 
port a citizen of the west. And, on the same principle, the New 
England states ought to be restrained from concurring in the 
election of a citizen in the southern states, or the southern states 
from co-operating in the election of a citizen of New England. 
And, consequently, the support which the last three Presidents 
have derived from New England, and that which the Vice-Pre- 
eident recently received, has been most unnaturally given. The 
tendency of such reasoning would be to denationalize us, and to 
contract every part of the Union, within the narrow, selfish limits 
of its own section. It would be still worse ; it would lead to the 
destruction of the Union itself. For if it be unnatural in one 
section to support a citizen in another, the Union itself must be 
unnatural ; all our ties, all our glories, all that is animating in 
the past, all that is bright and cheering in the future, must be 
unnatural. Happily, such is the admirable texture of our Union, 
that the interests of all its parts are closely interwoven. If there 
are strong points of affinity between the south and the west, 
there are interests of not less, if not greater, strength and vigor, 
binding the west, and the north, and the east. 

Before I close this address, it is my duty, which I proceed to 
perform with great regret, on account of the occasion which 
calls for it, to invite your attention to a letter, addressed by Gen- 
eral Jackson to Mr. "Swartwout, on the twenty-third day of Feb- 
ruary last. The names of both the General and myself had 
been before the American public for its highest office. We had 
both been unsuccessful. The unfortunate have usually some 
sympathy for each other. For myself, I claim no merit for the 
cheerful acquiescence which I have given in a result by which 
I was excluded from the House. I have believed that the de- 
cision by the constituted authorities, in favor of others, has been 
founded upon a conviction of the superiority of their preten- 
41* 



486 ADDRESS. 

sions. It has been my habit, when an election ia once decided, 
to torget, as soon as possible, all the irritating circumstances 
which attended the preceding canvass. If one be successful, he 
should be content with his success. If he have lost it, railing 
will do no good. I never gave General Jackson nor his friends 
any reason to believe that I would, in any contingency, support 
him. He had, as I thought, no public claim, and, I will now 
add, no personal claims, if these ought to be ever considered, to 
my support. No one, therefore, ought to have been disappointed 
or chagrined that I did not vote ibr him, no more than I waa 
neither surprised nor disappointed that he did not, on a more 
recent occasion, feel it to be his duty to vote for me. After com- 
menting upon a particular phrase used in my letter to Judge 
Brooke,^ a calm reconsideration of which will, I think, satisfy any 
person that it was not employed in an offensive sense, if indeed 
it have an offensive sense, the General, in his letter to Mr. 
Swartwout, proceeds to remark: "No one beheld me seeking, 
through art or management, to entice any Representative in 
Congress from a conscientious responsibility of his own, or the 
wishes of his constituents. No n)idnight taper burnt by me ; 
no secret conclaves were held, nor cabals entered into to per- 
suade any one to a violation of pledges given, or of instructions 
received. By me no plans were concerted to impair the pure 
principles of our republican institutions, nor to prostrate that 
fundamental maxim which maintains the supremacy of the peo- 
ple's will. On the contrary, having never in any manner, betbre 
the people or Congress, interfered in the slightest degree with 
the question, my conscience stands void of offence, and will go 
quietly with me, regardless of the insinuations of those who, 
through management, may seek an influence not sanctioned by 
integrity and merit." I am not aware that this defence of him- 
self was rendered necessary by any charges brought forward 
against the General. Certainly I never made any such charges 
against him. I will not suppose that, in the passages cited, he 
intended to impute to me the misconduct which he describes, 
and yet taking the whole context of his letter together, and 
coupling it with Mr. Kremer's address, it cannot be disguised 
that others may suppose he intended to refer to me. I am quite 
sure tliat, if he did, he could not have formed those unfavorable 
opinions of me upon any personal observation of my conduct 
made by himself; for a supposition that they were founded upon 
his own knowledge, would imply that my lodgings and my per- 
son had been subjected to a system of espionage wholly incom- 
patible with the open, manly and honorable conduct of a gallant 
soldier. If he designed any insinuations against me, I must be- 
lieve that he made them upon the information of others, of whom 
I can only say that they have deceived his credulity, and are 
entirely unworthy of all credit. I entered into no cabals; I held 
no secret conclaves; I enticed no man to violate pledges given 
or instructions received. The members from Ohio, and from the 



ADDRESS. 487 

other western states, with whom I voted, were all of them as 
competent as I was to form an opinion on the pending election. 
The McArthurs and the Metcalfes, and the other gentlemen 
from the west, (some of whom have, if I have not, bravely 
" made an effort to repel an invading foe,") are as incapable of 
dishonor as any men breathing — as disinterested, as unambi- 
tious, as exclusively devoted to the best interests of their country. 
It was quite as likely that I should be influenced by them, as 
that I could control their votes. Our object was not to impair, 
but to preserve from all danger, the purity of our republican 
institutions. And how I prostrated the maxim which maintains 
the supremacy of the people's will, I am entirely at a loss ta 
comprehend. The illusions of the General's imagmation deceive 
him. The people of the United States had never decided the 
election in his favor. If the people had willed his election, he 
would have been elected. It was because they had not willed 
his election, nor that of any other candidate, that the duty of 
making a choice devolved on the House of Representatives. 

The General remarks; "Mr. Clay has never yet risked him- 
self for his country. He has never sacrificed his repose, nor 
made an effort to repel an invading foe; of course his conscience 
assured him it was altogether wrong in any other man to lead 
his countrymen to battle and victory." The logic of this con- 
clusion is not very striking. General Jackson fights better than 
he reasons. When have I failed to concur in awarding appro- 
priate honors to those who, on tlie sea or on the land, have sus- 
tained the glory of our arms, if I could not always approve of 
the acts of* some of them ? It is true, that it has been my mis- 
fortune never to have repelled an invading foe, nor to have led 
. my countrymen to victory. If I had, I should have left to others 
to proclaim and appreciate the deed. The General's destiny 
and mine have led us in different directions. In the civil em- 
ployments of my country, to which I have been confined, I regret 
that the little service wliicli I have been able to render it falls 
far short of my wishes. But why this denunciation of those 
who have not repelled an invading foe, or led our armies to 
victory? At the very moment when he is inveighing against 
an objection, to the election to the Presidency, founded upon the 
exclusive military nature of his merits, does he not perceive that 
he is establishing its validity by proscribing every man who has 
not successfully fought the public enemy 1 And that, by such a 
general proscription, and the requirement of successful military 
service as the only condition of civil preferment, the inevitable 
effect would be the ultimate estabUshment of a military govern- 
ment? 

If the contents of the letter to Mr. Swartwout were such as 
justly to excite surprise, there were other circumstances not cal- 
culated to diminish it. Of all tlie citizens of the United States, 
that gentleman is one of the last to whom it was necessary to 
address any vindication of General Jackson. He had givea 



4S8 ADDRESS. 

abundant evidence of his entire devotion to the cause of the 
General. He was here after the election, and was one of a 
committee who invited the General to a public dinner, proposed 
to be given to him in this place. My letter to Judge Brooke 
was published in the papers of this city on the twelfth of Feb- 
ruary. The General's note, declining the invitation of Messrs. 
Swartwout and others, was published on the fourteenth, in the 
National Journal. The probability therefore is, that he did not 
leave this city until after he had a full opportunity to receive, in a 
personal interview Avith the General, any verbal observations 
upon it which he might have thought proper io make. The letter 
to Mr. Swartwout bears date the twenty-third of February. If 
received by him in New- York, it must have reached him, in the 
ordinary course of the mail, on the twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth. 
Whether intended or not as a "private communication," and 
not for the "public eye," as alledged by him, there is much 
probability in believing that its publication in New- York, op the 
fourth of March, was then made, like Mr. Kremer's address, 
with the view to its arrival in this city in time to afiect my nomi- 
nation to the Senate. In point of fact, it reached here the day 
before the Senate acted on that nomination. 

Fellow-citizens, I am sensible that, generally, a public officer 
had better abstain from any vindication of his conduct, and 
leave it to the candor and justice of his countrymen, under all 
its attending circumstances. Such has been the course which I 
have heretofore prescribed to myself. This is the finst, as I 
hope it may be the la,st, occasion of my thus appearing before 
you. The separation which has just taken place between us, 
end the venom, if not the vigor, of the late onsets upon my pub- 
lic condtict, will, I hope, be allowed in this instance to form an 
adequate apology. It has been upwards of twenty years since 
I first entered the public service.- Nearly three-fourths of that 
time, with some intermissions, I have represented the same dis- 
trict in Congress, with but little variation in its form. During 
tliat long period, you have beheld our country passing through 
scenes of peace and war, of prosperity and adversity, and of 
jiarty divisions, local and general, often greatly exasperated 
against each other. 1 have been an actor in most of those 
scenes. Throughout the whole of them you have clung to me 
with an aftectionate confidence which has never been surpassed. 
I have found in your attachment, in every embarrassment in my 
public career, the greatest consolation, and the most encouraging 
supporL I should regard the loss of it as one of the most af- 
flicting public misibrtunes which could befal me. That I have 
often misconceived your true interests, is highly probable. That 
I have ever sacrificed them to the object of personal aggran- 
dizement, I utterly deny. And, for the purity of my motives, 
however in other respects I may be unworthy to approach the 
Throne of Grace and Mercy, I appeal to the justice of my God, 
■with all the confidence which can flow from a consciousness of 
perfect rectitude. H. CLAY. 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 489 

SPEECH AT HANOVER) VA. 

July 10, 1840. 

Mr. Clay rose and addressed the company substantially aja 
follows : 

I think", friends and fellow citizens, that, availing myself of the. 
privilege of my long service in the public councils, just adverted 
to, the resolution, which I have adopted, is not unreasonable, of 
leaving to younger men, generally, the performance of the duty, 
and the enjoyment of the pleasure, of addressing the people in 
their primary assemblies. After the event which occurred last 
winter at the capital of Pennsylvania, I believed it due to myself, 
to the Whig cause, and to the country, to announce to the pub- 
lic, with perfect truth and sincerity, and without any reserve, my 
fixed determination heartily to support the nomination of William 
Henry Harrison, there made. To put down all misrepresenta- 
tions, I have, on suitable occasions, repeated this annunciation ; 
and now declare my solemn conviction that the purity and secu- 
rity of our free institutions, and the prosperity of the country im- 
peratively demand the election of that citizen to the office of 
Chief Magistrate of the United States. 

But the occasion forms an exception from the rule which I 
have prescribed to myself I have come here to the county of 
my nativity in the spirit of a pilgrim, to meet, perhaps for the 
last time, the companions and the descendants of the companions 
of my youth. Wherever we roam, in whatever climate or land 
we are cast by the accidents of human life, beyond the mountains 
or beyond the ocean, in the legislative halls of the capitol, or in 
the retreats and shades of private life, our hearts turn with an ir- 
resistible instinct to the cherished spot which ushered us into ex- 
istence. And we dwell with delightful associations on th^ recol- 
lection of the streams in which, during our boyish days, we 
bathed, the fountains at which we drunk, the piney fields, the 
hills and the valleys where we sported, and the friends who shar- 
ed these enjoyments with us. Alas ! too many of these friends 
of mine have gone whither we must all shortly go, and the pre- 
sence here of the small remnant left behind attests both our loss 
and our early attachment. I would greatly prefer, my friends, 
to employ the time which this visit affords in friendly and familiar 
conversation on the virtues of our departed companions, and on 
the scenes and adventures of our younger days ; but the expec- 
tation which prevails, the awful state of our beloved country, and 
the opportunities which I have enjoyed in its public councils, im- 
pose on me the obligation of touching on topics less congenial 
with the feelings of my heart, but possessing higher public inte- 
rest. I assure you, fellow citizens, however, that I present my- 
self before you for no purpose of exciting prejudices or inflaming 
passions, but to speak to you in all soberness and truth, and ta 



490 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

testify to the things which I know, or the convictions which I en • 
tertain, as an ancient friend, who has hved long and whose ca 
reer is rapidly drawing to a close. Throughout an arduous lilfe, 
I have endeavored to make truth and the good of our country the 
guides of my public conduct; but in Hanover county, for whicb 
I cherish sentiments of respect, gratitude and veneration, above 
all other places, would I avoid saying any thing that I did no'i 
sincerely and truly believe. 

Why is the plough deserted, the tools of the mechanic laid 
aside, and all are seen rushing to gatherings of the people ?— 
What occasions those vast and unusual assemblages which wo 
behold in every state and in almost every neighborhood? Why 
those conventions of the people, at a common centre, from all the 
extremities of this vast Union, to consult together upon the suf- 
ferings of the community, and to deliberate on the means of de- 
liverance ? Why this rabid appetite for public discussions ? — 
What is the solution of the phenomenon, which we observe, of a 
great nation, agitated upon its whole surface, and at its lowest 
depths, like the ocean when convulsed by some terrible etorm? 
There must be a cause, and no ordinary cause. 

It has been truly said, in the most memorable document that 
ever issued from the pen of men, that " all experience hath shown 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are suffer- 
able, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
they are accustomed." The recent history of our people furnish- 
es confirmation of that truth. They are active, enterprising and 
intelligent ; but are not prone to make groundless complaints 
against public servants. If we now every where behold them in 
motion, it is because they feel that the grievances under which 
they are writhing can be no longer tolerated. They feel the ab- 
solute necessity of a change, that no change can render their 
condition worse, and that any change must better it. This is the 
judgment to which they have come : this the brief and compen- 
dious logic which we daily hear. They know that, in all the dis- 
pensations of Providence, they have reason to be thankful and 
grateful ; and if they had not, they would be borne with fortitude 
and resignation. But there is a pervading conviction and per- 
suasion that, in the administration of government, there has been 
something wrong, radically wrong, and that the vessel of state 
has been in the hands of selfish, faithless and unskilful pilots, 
who have conducted it amidst the breakers. 

In my deliberate opinion, the present distressed and distracted 
Btate of the country may be traced to the single cause of the ac- 
tion, the encroachments, and the usurpations of the executive 
branch of the government. I have not time here to exhibit and 
to dwell upon all the instances of these, as they have occurred 
in succession, during the last twelve years. They have been 
again and again exposed on other more fit occasions. But I 
have thought this a proper opportunity to point out the enormity 
of the pretensions, principles and practices of that department, 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 491 

as they have been, from time to time, disclosed in these late 
years, and to show the rapid progress which has been made in 
the fulfilment of the remarkable language of our illustrious coun- 
tryman, that the federal executive had an awful squinting to- 
wards monarchy. Here, in the county of his birth, surrounded 
by sons, some of whose sires with him were the first to raise their 
arms in defence of American liberty against a foreign monarch, 
is an appropriate place to expose the impending danger of cre- 
ating a domestic monarch. And may I not, without presump- 
tion, indulge the hope that the warning voice of another, although 
far humbler, son of Hanover may not pass unheeded ? 

The late President of the United States advanced certain new 
and alarming pretensions for the executive department of the 
government, the effect of which, if established and recognised by 
the people, must inevitably convert it into a monarchy. The 
flrst of these, and it was a favorite principle with him, was, that 
the executive department should be regarded as a unit. By this 
principle of unity, he meant and intended that all the executive 
officers of government should be bound to obey the commands 
and execute the orders of the President of the United States, and 
that they should be amenable to him, and he be responsible for 
them. Prior to his administration, it had been considered that 
they were bound to observe and obey the constitution and laws, 
subject only to the general superintendence of the Presidentj'and 
reeponible by impeachment, and to the tribunals of justice for in- 
juries inflicted on private citizens. 

But the annunciation of this new and extraordinary principle 
was not of itself sufficient for the purpose of President Jackson ; 
it was essential that the subjection to his will, which was its ob- 
ject, should be secured by some adequate sanction. That he 
sought to effect by an extension of another principle, that of dis- 
mission from office, beyond all precedent, and to cases and under 
circumstances which would have furnished just grounds for his 
impeachment, according to the solemn opinion of Mr. Madison 
and other members of the first Congress under the present con- 
stitution. 

Now, if the whole official corpg, subordinate to the President 
of the United Stales, are made to know and to feel that they hold 
their respective offices by the tenure of conformity and obedience 
to his will, it is manifest that they must look to that will, and not 
to the constitution and laws, as the guide of their official con- 
duct. The weakness of human nature, the love and emoluments 
of office, perhaps the bread neccRsary to the support of their 
families, would make this result absolutely certain. 

The development of this new character to the power of dis- 
mission would have fallen short of the aims in view, without 
the exercise of it were held to be a prerogative, for Avhich the 
President was to be wholly irresponsible. If he were compelled 
to expose the grounds and reasons upon which he acted, in dis- 
missals from office, the apprehenaion of pabUc censure would 



492 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

temper the arbitrary nature of the power, and throw some pro- 
tection around the subordinate officer. Hence the new and mon- 
strous pretension has been advanced, that although the concur- 
rence of the Senate is necessary by the constitution to the con- 
firmation of an appointment, the President may subsequently 
dismiss the person appointed, not only without communicating 
tlie grounds on which he has acted, to the Senate, but without 
any such communication to the people themselves, for whose 
benefit all offices are created ! And so bold and daring has the 
executive branch of the government become, that one of its cab- 
inet ministers, himself a subordinate officer, has contemptuously 
refused to members of the House of Representatives, to disclose 
the grounds on which he has undertaken to dismiss from office 
persons acting as deputy postmasters in his department ! 

As to the gratuitous assumption, by President Jackson, of re- 
sponsibility for all the subordinate executive officers, it is the 
merest mockery that was ever put forth. They Avill escape pun- 
ishment by pleading his orders, and he by alledging the hard- 
ship of being punished, not lor his own acts, but for theirs. We 
have a practical exposition of tliis principle in the case of the 
two hundred thousand militia. The secretary of war comes out 
to screen the President, by testifying that he never saw what he 
strongl}'- recommended ; and the President reciprocates that 
favor by retaining the secretary in place, notwithstanding he 
has proposed a plan for organizing the militia which is acknow- 
ledged to be unconstitutional. If the President is not to be held 
responsible for a cabinet minister, in daily intercourse with him, 
how is he to be rendered so for a receiver in Wisconsin or Iowa ? 
To concentrate all responsibility in the President, is to annihil- 
ate all responsibility. For who ever expects to see the day 
arrive when a President of the United States will be impeached ; 
or, if impeached, when he cannot command more than one-third 
of the Senate to defeat the impeachment ? 

But to construct the scheme of practical despotism, whilst all 
the forms of free government remained, it was necessary to take 
one further step. By the constitution, the President is enjoined 
to take care that the laws be executed. This injunction was 
merely intended to impose on him the duty of a general superin- 
tendence ; to see that offices were filled, officers at their respec- 
tive posts in the discharge of their olficial functions, and all ob- 
structions to the enforcement of the laws were removed, and, 
when necessary for that purpose, to call out the militia. No one 
ever imagined prior to the administration of President Jackson, 
that a President of the United States was to occupy himself with 
supervising and attending to the execution of all the mimjto 
details of every one of the hosts of offices in the United States. 

Under the constitutional injunction just mentioned, the late 
President put forward that most extraordinary pretension that 
the constitution and laws of the United States were to be executed 
as he understood the^a ; and tliis pretension Avas attempted to 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 493 

be sustained by an argument equally extraordinary, that the 
President, being a Kworn officer, must carry them into effect ac- 
cording to his sense of their meaning. The constitution and 
laws were to be executed not according to their import, as hand- 
ed down to us by our ancestors, as interpreted by contemporane- 
ous expositions, as expounded by concurrent judicial decisions, 
as fixed by an uninterrupted course of Congressional legislation, 
but in that sense which a President of the United States hap- 
pened to understand them ! 

To complete this executive usurpation, one further object re- 
mained. By the constitution, the command of the army and the 
navy is conferred on the President. If he could unite the purse 
with the sword, nothing would be left to gratify the insatiable 
thirst for power. In 1838 the President seized the treasury of 
the United States, and from that day to this, it has continued 
substantially under his control. The seizure was effected by the 
removal of one secretary of the treasury, understood to be op- 
posed to the measure, and by the dismissal of another, who re- 
msed to violate the law of the land upon the orders of the Pre- 
sident. 

It is, indeed, said that not a dollar in the treasury can be 
touched without a previous appropriation by law, nor drawn out 
of the treasury, without the concurrence and signature of the 
■secretary, the treasurer, the register, and the comptroller. But 
are not all these pretended securities idle and unavailing forms ? 
We have seen that, by the operation of the irresponsible power 
of dismission, all those officers are reduced to mere automata, 
absolutely subjected to the will of the President. What resis- 
tance would any of them make, with the penalty of dismission 
suspended over their heads, to any orders of the President, to 
pour out tbe treasure of the United States, whether an act of 
appropriation existed or not? Do not mock us with the vain 
assurance of the honor and probity of a President, nor remind 
us of the confidence which we ought to repose in his imagined 
virtues. The pervading principles of our system of govern- 
ments — of all free government — is not merely the possibility, but 
the absolute certainty of infidelity and treachery, with even the 
highest functionary of the state ; and hence all the restrictions, 
securities, and guaranties, which the wisdom of our ancestors, 
or the sad experience of history had inculcated, have been de- 
vised and thrown around the Chief Magistrate. 

Here, friends and fellow citizens, let us pause and contemplate 
this stupendous structure of executive machinery and despotism, 
which has been reared in our young republic. The executive 
branch of the government is a unit; throughout all its arteries 
and veins there is to be but one heart, one head, one will. Tha 
number of the subordinate executive officers and dependents in 
the United States has been estimated, in an official report, 
founded on public documents, made by a senator from South 
42 



494 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,) at one hundred thousand. Whatever 
it may be, all of them, wherever they are situated, are bound 
implicitly to obey the orders of the President. An absolute obe- 
dience to his will is secured and enforced by the power of dis- 
missing them, at his pleasure, from their respective places. To 
make this terrible power of dismission more certain and effica- 
cious, its exercise is covered up in mysterious secrecy, without 
exposure, without the smallest responsibility. The constitution 
and laws of the United States are to be executed in the sense 
in which the President understands them, although that sense 
may be at variance witli the understanding of every other man 
in the United States. It follows, as a necessary consequence, 
from the principles deduced by the President from the constitu- 
tional injunction as to the execution of tiie lav/s, that, if an act 
of Congress be passed, in his opinion, contrary to the constitu- 
tion, or if a decision be pronounced by tlie courts, in his opinion, 
contrary to the constitution or the laws, that act or that decision 
the President is not obliged to enforce, and he could not cause it 
to be enforced, without a violation, as is pretended, of his oiBcial 
oath. Candor requires the admission thai, the principle has not 
yet been pushed in practice in these cases ; but it maniiestly 
comprehends them ; and who doubts that, if the spirit of usur- 
pation is not arrested and rebuked, they will be finally reached? 
The march of power is ever onward. As times and seasons ad- 
monished, it openly and boldly in broad day, makes its progress; 
or, if alarm be excited by the enormity of its pretensions, it silent- 
ly and secretly, in the dark ot' the night, steals its devious Avay. 
It now storms and mounts the ramparts of the tbrtress of liberty; 
it now saps and undermines its foundations. Finally, the com- 
mand of the army and navy being already in the President, and 
having acquired a perfect control over the treasury of the United 
States, he has consummated that frightful union of purse and 
sword, so long, so much, so earnestly deprecated by all true 
lovers of civil liberty. And our present Chief Magistrate stands 
solemnly and voluntarily pledged, in the face of the whole world, 
to Ibllow in the Ibotsteps and carry out the measures and the 
principles of his illustrious predecessor ! 

The sum of the whole is, that there is but one power, one 
control, one Avill in the state. All is concentrated in the Presi- 
dent. He directs, orders, commands the whole machinery of the 
state. Through the official agencies, scattered throughout the 
land, and absolutely subjected to his will, he executes, according 
to his pleasure or caprice, the whole power of the common- 
wealth, which has been absorbed and engrossed by him. And 
one sole will predominates in, and animates the whole of this 
vast conmiunity. If this be not practical despotism, I am incap- 
able of conceiving or defining it. Names are nothing. The ex- 
istence or non-existence of arbitrary government does not de- 
pend upon the title or denomination bestowed on the chief of the 
state, but upon the quantum of power which he possesses and 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 495 

wields. Autocrat, sultan, emperor, dictator, king doge, presi- 
dent, are all mere names, in which the power respectively pos- 
sessed by them is not to be found, but is to be looked for in the 
constitution, or the established usages and practices of the seve- 
ral states which they govern and control. If the autocrat of 
Russia were called President of all the Russias,the actual power 
remaining unchanged, his authority, under his new denomina- 
tion, would continue undiminished ; and if the President of the 
United States were to receive the title of autocrat of the United 
States, the amount of his authority would not be increased, 
without an alteration of the constitution. 

General Jackson Avas a bold and fearless reaper, carrying a 
wide row, but he did not gather tiie whole harvest ; he left some 
gleanings to his faithful successor, and he seems resolved to 
sweep clean the field of power. The duty of inculcating on the 
official corps the active exertion of their personal and otficial in- 
fluence was left by him to be enforced by Mr. Van Buren, in all 
popular elections. It was not sufficient that the official corps 
was bound implicitly to obey the will of the President. It was 
not sufficient that this obedience was coerced by the tremendous 
power of dismission. It soon became apparent that this corps 
might be beneficially employed to promote, in other matters than 
the business of their offices, the views and interests of the Pre- 
sident and his party. They are far more efficient than any 
standing army of equal numbers. A standing army would be 
separated, and stand out from the people, would be an object of 
jealousy and suspicion ; and, being always in corps, or in de- 
tachments, could exert no influence on popular elections. But 
the official corps is dispersed throughout the country, in every 
town, village, and city, mixing with the people, attending their 
meetings and conventions, becoming chairmen and members of 
committees, and urging and stimulating partizans to active and 
vigorous exertion. Acting in concert, and throughout the whole 
Union, obeying orders issued from the centre, their influence, 
aided by executive patronage, by the post-office department, and 
all the vast other means of the executive, is almost irresistable. 

To correct this procedure, and to restrain the subordinates of 
the executive from all interference with popular elections, my 
colleague, (Mr. Crittenden,) now present, introduced a bill in the 
Senate. He had the weight of Mr. Jefferson's opinion, who is- 
sued a circular to restrain federal officers from intermeddling in 
popular elections. He had before him the British example, ac- 
cording to which place men and pensioners were not only for- 
bidden to interfere, but were not, some of them, even allowed to 
vote at popular elections. But his bill left them free to exercise 
the elective franchise, prohibiting only the use of their official in- 
fluence. And how was this biil received in the Senate ? Passed, 
by those who profess to admire the character and to pursue the 
principles of Mr. Jeffierson 1 No such thing. It was denounced 
as a sedition bill. And the just odium of that sedition bill, which 



496 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

was intended to protect office holders against the people, was 
successfully used to defeat a measure of protection of the people 
against the office holders ! Not only were they left unrestrained, 
but they were urged and stimulated by an official report to em- 
j)loy their influence in behalf of the administration at the elec- 
tions of the people. 

Hitherto, the army and the navy have remained unaffected by 
the power of dismission, and they have not been called into the 
political service of the executive. But no attentive observer of 
the principles and proceedings of the men in power could fail to 
see that the day was not distant when they, too, would be requir- 
ed to perform the partisan offices of the President, Accordingly, 
the process of converting them into executive instruments has 
commenced in a court martial assembled at Baltimore. Two 
officers of the army of the United States have been there put 
upon their solemn trial, on the charge of prejudicing the demo- 
cratic party by making purchases for the supply of the army from 
members of the Whig party ! It is not pretended that the Uni- 
ted States'were prejudiced by those purchases; on the contrary, 
it was I believe, established that they were cheaper than could 
have been made from the supporters of the administration. But 
the charge was, that to purchase at all from the opponents, in- 
stead of the friends, of the administration, was an injury to the 
democratic party, which required that the offenders should be 
put upon their trial before a court martial ! And this trial was 
commenced at the instance of a committee of a democratic conven- 
tion, and conducted and prosecuted by them ! The scandalous 
spectacle is presented to an enlightened world of the Chief Magis- 
trate of a great people executing the orders of a self-created pow- 
er, organised within the bosom of the state, and upon such an ac- 
cusation, arraigning, before a military tribunal, gallant men, who 
are charged with the defence of the honor and the interest of their 
country, and with bearing its eagles in the presence of an enemy! 

But the army and navy are too small, and in composition are 
too patriotic to subserve all the purposes of this administration. 
Hence the recent proposition of the Secretary of War, strongly 
recommended by the President, under color of a new organiza- 
tion of the militia, to create a standing force of 200,000 men, an 
amount which no conceivable foreign exigency can ever make 
necessary. It is not my purpose now to enter upon an examina- 
tion of that alarming and most dangerous plan of the executive 
department of the federal government. It has justly excited a 
burst of general indignation , and no where has the disapproba- 
tion of it been more emphatically expressed than in this ancient 
and venerable commonwealth. 

The monstrous project may be described in a few words. It 
proposes to create the force by breaking down Mason and Dix- 
on's line, expunging the boundaries of states ; melting them up 
into a confluent mass, to be subsequently cut up into ten military 
parts, alienates the militia from its natural association, witJidrawa 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 497 

it from the authority and command and sympathy of its constitu- 
tional officers, appointed by the states, puts it under the command 
of the President, authorises him to cause it to be trained, in pal- 
pable violation of the constitution, and subjects it to be called 
out from remote and distant places, at his pleasure, and on occa- 
sions not warranted by the constitution ! 

Indefensible as this project is, fellow citizens, do not be de- 
ceived by supposing that it has been or will be abandoned. It 
is a principle of those who are now in power that an election or 
a re-election of the President implies the sanction of the people 
to all the measures which he had proposed, and all the opinions 
which he had expressed, on public afi'airs, prior to that event. — 
We have seen this principle applied on various occasions. Let 
Mr. Van Buren be re-elected in November next, and it will be 
claimed that the people have thereby approved of this plan of 
the Secretary of War. All entertain the opinion that it is im- 
portant to train the militia and render it effective ; and it will be 
insisted, in the contingency mentioned, that the people have de- 
monstrated that they approve of that specific plan. There is 
more reason to apprehend such a consequence from the fact that 
a committee of the Senate, to which this subject was referred, 
instead of denouncing the scheme as unconstitutional and dan- 
gerous to liberty, presented a labored apologetic report, and the 
administration majority in that body ordered twenty thousand 
copies of the apology to be printed for circiilation among the 
people. I take pleasure in testifying that one administration 
Senator had the manly independence to denounce, in his place, 
the project as unconstitutional. That Senator was from your 
own state. 

I have thus, fellow citizens, exhibited to you a true and faith- 
ful picture of executive power, as it has been enlarged and ex- 
panded Avithin the last few years, and as it has been proposed 
further to extend it. It overshadows every other branch of the 
government. The source of legislative power is no longer to be 
found in the capital, but in the palace of the President. In as- 
suming to be a part of the legislative power, as the President re- 
cently did, contrary to the constitution, he would have been 
nearer the actual fact if he had alledged that he was the sole 
legislative power of the Union. How is it possible for public 
liberty to be preserved, and the constitutional distributions of 
power, among the departments of government, to be maintained, 
unless the executive career be checked and restrained ? 

It may be urged that two securities exist; first, that the Presi- 
dential term is of short duration ; and, secondly, the elective 
franchise. But it has been already shown that whether a depo- 
sitary of power be arbitrary or compatible Avith liberty does not 
depend upon the duration of the official term, but upon the amount 
of power invested. The dictatorship in Rome was an office of 
virief existence, generally shorter than the Preeidentiai term. — 
42* 



498 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

Whether the elective franchise be an adequate security or not, 
is a problem to be solved next November. I hope and believe it 
yet is. But if Mr. Van Buren should be re-elected, the power 
already acquired by the executive be retained, and that which is 
in progress be added to that department, it is my deliberate judg- 
ment that there will be no hope remaining for the continuance 
of the liberties of the country. 

And yet the partisans of this tremendous executive power ar- 
rogate to themselves the name of democrats, and bestow upon 
as, who are opposed to it, the denomination of lederalists ! In 
he Senate of the United States there are five gentlemen who 
,vere members of the federal party, and four of them have been 
luddenly transformed into democrats, and are now warm sup- 
porters of this administration, whilst I, who had exerted the ui- 
Tiost of my humble abihties to arouse the nation to a vindication 
5f its insulted lionor and its violated rights, and to the vigorous 
prosecution of the war against Great Britain, to which they were 
violently opposed, find myself, by a sort of magical influence, 
converted into a federalist ! The only American citizen that I 
ever met with, who Avas an avowed monarchist, was a supporter 
of the administration of Gen. Jackson; and he acknowledged to 
me that his motive was to bring about the system of monarchy, 
which his judgment preferred. 

There were other points of difterence between the federalists 
and the democratic or rather republican party of 1798, but the 
^reat, leadinij;, prominent discrimination between them related to 
'he constitution of the executive department of the government. 
The federalists believed that in its structure, it was too weak, 
md was in danger of being crushed by the preponderating weight 
3f the legislative branch. Hence tliey rallied around tlie execu- 
tive, and sought to give to it strength and energy. A strong go- 
vernment, an energetic executive was, among them, tlie common 
language and the great object of that day. The republicans, on 
the conlrar}^, believed that the real danger lay on the side of the 
executive ; that, having a continuous and uninterrupted existence, 
it was always on the alert, ready to delend the power it had, and 
prompt in acquiring more ; and tiiat the experience of history 
demonstrated tliat it was tlie encroaching and usurping depart- 
ment. They, tlicreibre, rallied around the people and the legis- 
lature. 

What are the positions of the two great parties of the present 
day? Modern democracy has reduced the federal theory of a 
strong and energetic executive to practical operation. It has 
turned from the people, the natural ally of genuine democracy, 
to the executive, and, instead of vigilance, jealousy and distrust, 
has given to that department all its confidence, and made to it a 
virtual surrender of all the powers of government. The recog- 
nised maxim of royal infaUibility is transplanted from the British 
monarchy into modern American democracy, and the President 
can do no wrong ! This new school adopts, modifies, changes. 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 499 

I enounces, renews opinions at the pleasure of the executive. Is 
the bank of the United States a useful and valuable institution? 
Yes, unanimously pronounces the democratic legislature of Penn- 
sylvania. The President vetoes it as a pernicious and danger- 
ous establishment. The democratic majority in the same legis- 
lature pronounce it to be pernicious and dangerous. The demo- 
cratic majority of the House of Representatives of the United 
States declare the deposites of the public money in the bank of 
the United States to be safe. The President says they are un- 
safe, and removes them. The democracy say they are unsafe, 
and approve the removal. The President says that a scheme of 
a Sub-Treasury is revolutionary and disorganizing. The de- 
mocracy say it is revolutionary and disorganizing. The Presi- 
dent says it is wise and salutary. The democracy say it is wise 
and salutary. 

The whigs of 1840 stand where the republicans of 1798 stood, 
and where the whigs of the revolution were, battling for liberty, 
for the people, for free institutions, against power, against cor- 
ruption, against executive encroachments, against monarchy. 

We are reproached with struggling for offices and their emol- 
uments. If we acted on the avowed and acknowledged princi- 
ple of our opponents, " that the spoils belong to the victors," we 
should indeed be unworthy of the support of the people. No ! 
fellow citizens ; higher, nobler, more patriotic motives actuate the 
Whig party. Their object is the restoration of the constitution, 
the preservation of liberty, and rescue of the country. If they 
■^were governed by the sordid and selfish motives acted upon by 
their opponents, and unjustly imputed to them, to acquire office 
and emolument, they have only to change their names, and en- 
ter the Presidential palace. The gate is always wide open, and 
the path is no narrow one which leads through it. The last 
comer, too, often fares best. 

On a resurvey of the few past years, we behold enough to 
sicken and sadden the hearts of true patriots. Executive en- 
croachment has quickly followed upon executive encroachment; 
persons honored by public confidence, and from whom nothing 
but grateful and parental measures should have flowed, have in- 
flicted stunning blow after blow in such rapid succession that, 
before the people could recover from the reeling effects of one, 
another has fallen heavily upon them. Had either of various 
instances of executive misrule stood out separate and alone, so 
that its enormity might have been seen and dwelt upon with 
composure, the condemnation of the executive would have long 
since been pronounced ; but it has hitherto found safety and im- 
punity in the bewildering etfects of the multitude of its misdeeds. 
The nation has been in the condition of a man who, having gone 
to bed after his barn has been consumed by fire, is aroused in 
the morning to witness liis dwelling house wrapt in flames. So 
bold and presumptuous had the executive become, that, penelra- 
ting in its influence the hall of a co-ordinate branch of the gov- 



500 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

ernment, by means of a eubmissive or instructed majority of the 
Senate, it has caused a record of the country to be effaced and 
expunged, the inviolabihty of which was guarantied by a solemn 
injunction of the constitution ! And that memorable and scan- 
dalous scene was enacted only because the offensive record con- 
tained an expression of disapprobation of an executive proceed- 
ing. 

If this state of things were to remain — if the progress of exe- 
cutive usurpation were to continue unchecked, hopeless despair 
would seize the pubHc mind, or the people would be goaded to 
acts of open and violent resistance. But, thank God, the power 
of the President, fearful and rapid as its strides have been, is not 
yet too great for the power of the elective franchise ; and a 
pright and glorious prospect, in the election of William Henry 
Harrison, has opened upon the country. The necessity of a 
change ol" rulers has deeply penetrated the hearts of the people; 
and we every where behold cheering manifestations of that hap- 
py event. The fact of his election alone, without reference to 
the measures of his administration, will powerfully contribute to 
the security and happiness of tlie people. It will bring assurance 
of the cessation of that long series of disastrous experiments 
which have so greatly afflicted the people. Confidence will im- 
mediately revive, credit be restored, active business will return, 
prices of products will rise ; and the people will feel and know 
that, instead of their servants being occupied in devising mea- 
sures for their ruin and destruction, they will be assiduously em- 
ployed in promoting their welfare and prosperitj^ 

But grave and serious measures will, unquestionably, early 
and anxiously command the earnest attention of the new ad- 
ministration. I have no authority to announce, and do not pre- 
tend to announce the purposes of the new President. I have no 
knowledge of them other than that which is accessible to every 
citizen. In what I shall say as to the course of a new adminis- 
tration, therefore, I mean to express my own sentiments, to speak 
for myself, without compromitting any other person. Upon such 
an interesting occasion as this is, in the midst of the companions 
of my youth, or their descendants, I have felt that it is due to 
them and to myself explicitly to declare my sentiments, without 
reserve, and to show that I have been, and, as I sincerely believe, 
the friends with whom I have acted have been, animated by the 
disinterested desire to advance the best interests of the country, 
and to preserve its free institutions. 

The first, and in my opinion, the most important object which 
should engage the serious attention of a new administration, is 
fliat of circumscribing the executive power, and throwing around 
it such limitations and safe-guards as will render it no longer 
dangerous to the public liberties. 

Whatever is the work of man necessarily partakes of his im- 
perfections ; and it was not to be expected that, with all the ac- 
KQowledged wisdom and virtues of the frajners of our constita- 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 501 

tion, they could have sent forth a plan of government, so free 
from all defect, and so full of guaranties ; that it should not, in 
the conflict of embittered parties and of excited passions, be per- 
verted and misinterpreted. Misconceptions or erroneous con- 
structions of the powers granted in the constitution would prob- 
ably have occurred, after the lapse of many years, in seasons of 
entire calm, and with a regular and temperate administration of 
the government ; but, during the last twelve years, the machine, 
driven by a reckless charioteer with frightful impetuosity, has 
been greatly jarred and jolted, and it needs careful examination, 
and a thorough repair. 

With the view, therefore, to the fundamental character of the government itself, 
and especially of the executive branch, it seems to me that, either by amendments of 
the constitution, when they are necessary, or by remedial legislation, when the ob- 
ject falls within the scope of the powers of Congress, there should be, 

1st. A provision to render a person ineligible to the office of President of iha 
United States after a sevice of one term. 

Much observation and deliberate reflection have satisfied me that too much of the 
time, the thoughts and the exertions of the incumbent, are occupied, during his first 
terra, in securing his re-election. The public business, consequently suffers, and 
measures are proposed or executed with less regard to the general prosperity than to 
their influence upon the approaching election. If the limitation to one term existed, 
the President would be exclusively devoted to the discharge of his public duties ; 
and he would endeavor to signalize his administration by the beneficence and wis- 
dom of its measures. 

2d. That the veto power should be more precisely defined, and be subjected to 
further limitations and qualifications. Although a large, perhaps the largest, pro- 
portion of all the acts of Congress, passed at the short session of Congress, since the 
commencement of the government, were passed within the three last days of Iha 
session, and when of course, the President for the time being had not the ten days for 
consideration allowed by the constitution. President Jackson, availing himself of that 
allowance, has failed to return important bills. When not returned by the President 
within the ten days, it is questionable whether they are laws or not. It is very cer- 
tain that the next Congress cannot act upon them by deciding whether or not they 
shall become laws, the President's objections notwithstanding. All this ought to be 
provided for. 

At present, a bill, returned by the President, can only become a law by the con- 
currence of two-thirds of the members of each house. I think if Congress passes a 
bill after discussion and consideration, and, after weighing the objections of the 
President, still believes it ought to pass, it should become a law, provided a majority 
of all the members of each house concur in its passage. If the weight of his argu- 
ment, and the weight of his influence conjointly, cannot prevail on a majority, 
against their previous convictions, in my opinion the bill ought not to be arrested. 
Such is the provision of the constitutions of several of the states, and that of Kentucky 
among them. 

3d. That the power of dismission from oflice should be restricted, and the exercise 
of it be rendered responsible. 

The constitutional concurrence of the Senate is necessary to the confirmation of 
all important appointments, but, without consulting the Senate, without any other 
motive than resentment or caprice, the President may dismiss, at his sole pleasure, 
an officer created by the joint action of himself and the Senate. The practical effect 
is to nullify the agency of the Senate. There may be, occasionally, cases in which 
the public interest requires an immediate dismission without waiting for the assem- 
bling of the Senate ; but, in all such cases, the President should be bound to commu- 
nicate fully the grounds and motives of the dismission. The power would be thus 
rendered responsible. Without it, the exercise of the power is utterly repugnant to 
free institutions, the basis of which is perfect responsibility, and dangerous to the 
public liberty, as has been already sliown. 

4ih. That the control over the treasury of the United States should be confided and 
confined exclusively to Congress; and all authority of the President over it, by 
means of dismissing the secretary of the treasury, or other persons having the imme- 
diate charge of it, be rigorously precluded. 

You have heard much, fellow citizens, of the divorce of banks and governmenL 
After crippling them and impairinglheir utility, the executive and its partisans have 
systematically denounced them. The executive and the country were warned agaio 
and again of the fatal course tliat ha« been pursued ', but the executive nevertheless 



502 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

persevered, commencing by praising and ending by decrying ihe state banktf/ 
Under cover of the smoke wliich has been raised, the real object all along has been, 
and yet is, to obtain tlie possession of the money power of the Union. That accom- 
plished and sanctioned by the people— the union of the sword and the purse in the 
hands of the President effectually secured— and farewell to American liberty. The 
sub-treasury is the scheme for eflecting thai union ; and I am told, that of all ihe days 
in the year, tliat which gave birth to our national existence and freedom, is the se- 
lected day to be disgraced by ushering into existence a measure, imminently perilous 
to the liberty which, on that anniversary, we commemorate in joyous festivals. 
Thus, in the spirit of destruction which animates our rulers, would they convert a. 
day of gladness and of glory into a day of sadness and mourning. Fellow citizens, 
there is one divorce urgently demanded by the safely and the highest interests of the 
country— a divorce of the President from the treasury of the United Stales. 

And 5lh. That the appointment of members of Congress to any office, or any but a 
few specific offices, during their continuance in office, and for one year thereafter, be 
prohibited. 

This is a hacknied theme, but it is not less deserving serious consideration. The 
constitution now interdicts the appointnipnt of a member of Congress to any office 
created, or the emoluments of whicli had been increased whilst he was in office. In 
the purer days of the republic, that restriction might have been sufficient, but in these 
more degenerate times, it is necessary, by an amendment of the constitution, to give 
the principle a greater extent. 

These are tlie subjects, in relation to the permanent character of the government 
itself, which, it seems to me, are worthy of the serious attention of the people, and of 
a new administration. There are others, of an administrative nature, which require 
prompt and careful consideration. 

1st. The currency of the country, its stability and unifonn value, and, as intimate- 
ly and indissolubly connected with it, the insurance of the faithful performance of 
the fiscal services necessary to the government, should be maintained and secured 
by exercising all tlie powers requisite to those objects with which Congress is consti- 
tutionally invested. These are the great ends to be aimed at— the means are of sub- 
ordinate importance. Whether these ends, indispensable to the well-being of both 
the people and the government, are to be attained by sound and safe stale banks, 
carefully selected, and properly distributed, or by a new bank of the United States, 
with such limitations, conditions, and restrictions, as have been indicated by experi- 
ence, should be left to the arbitrament of enlightened public opinion. 

Candor and truth require me to say that, in my judgment, whilst banks continue to 
exist in the country, the services of a bank of the United States cannot be safely dis- 
pensed with. I think that the power to establish such a bank is a settled question ; 
eetlled by Washington and by Bladison, by the people, by forty years' acquiescence, 
by the judiciary, and by both of the great parlies which so long held sway in this 
country. I know and I respect the contrary opinion, which is entertained in this 
stale. But, in my deliberate vipvv of the matter, the power to establish such a bank 
being settled, and being a necessary and proper power, the only question is as to the 
expediency of its exercise. And on questions of mere expediency public opinion 
ought to have a controlling influence. Without banks, I believe we cannot have a, 
sufficient currency ; without a bank of the United States, I fear we cannot have a 
sound currency. But it is the end, that of a sound and sufficient currency, and a 
faithful execution of the fiscal duties of government, that should engage the dispas- 
sionate and candid consideration of the whole community. There is nothing in the 
name of the bank of the United States which has any magical charm, or to which any 
one need be wedded. Il is to secure certain great objects, without which society can- 
not prosper; and if, contrary to my appreliension, lliese objects can be accomplished 
by dispensing with the agency of a bank of the United States, and employing that of 
state banks, all ought to rejoice, and heartily acquiesce, and none would more than 1 
should. 

2d. That the public lands, in conformity with the trusts created expressly, or by 
just implication, on their acquisition, be administered in a spirit of liberality toward* 
the new stairs and territories, and in a spiritof justice towards all the slates. 

The land bill which was rejected by President Jackson, and acts of occasional legis 
lation, will accomplish both these objects. I regret that the time does net admit of 
my exposing here the nefarious plans and purposes of the administration as to thin 
Tast national resource. That, like every other great interest of the country, is ad 
ministered with the sole view of the elTecl upon the interests of the party in power. 
A bill has passeil the Senate, and is now pending before ihe House, accortling to 
which forty millions of dollars are stricken from the real value of a certain portion o( 
the public lands by a short process ; and a citizen of Virginia, residing on the south- 
west side of the Ohio, is not allowed to purchase lands as cheap, by half a dollar per 
acre, as a, citizen living on the northwest side of that river. I have qo hesitaiioQ ia 



SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 503 

expressirtg my conviction thai the whole public domain is gone if Mr. Van Buren 
be re-elected. 

3d. That the policy of protecting and encourae;in2 the productions of American in- 
dustry, enteridg into competition with the rival productions of foreign industry, be 
adhered to and maintained on the basis of the principles and in the spirit of the com- 
promise of March, 1833. 

Protection and national independence are, in my opinion, identical ahd synony- 
mous. The principle of abandonment of the one cannot be surrendered without a 
forfeiture of the other. Who, with just pride and national sensibility, can think of 
subjecting tho products of our industry to all the taxation and restraints of foreign 
powers, without effort, on our part, to counteract their prohibitions and burdens by 
suitable countervailing legislation? The question cannot be, ought not to be, one of 
principle, but of measure and degree. I adopt that of the compromise act, not be- 
cause that act is irrepealable, but because it met with the sanction of the nation. 
Stability, with moderate and certain protection, is far more important than instabil- 
ity, the necessary consequence of high protection. But the protection of the compro- 
mise act will be adequate, in most, if not as to all interests. The twenty per cent, 
which it stipulates, cash duties, home valuations, and the list of free articles inserted 
in the act, for the particular advantage of the manufacturer, will ensure, 1 trust, sufli- 
cient protection. All together, they will amount probably to no less than thirty per 
cent., a greater extent of protection than was secured prior to the act of 1S28, which 
no one stands up to defend. Now the valuation of foreign goods is made not by the 
American authority, except in suspected cases, but by foreigners, and abroad. They 
assess the value, and we the duty; but as the duty depends, in most cases, upon the 
value, it is inanifesltliat those, who assess the value, fi.v the duty. The home valua- 
tion will give our government what it rishtfiiUy possesses, both the power ty ascenain 
the true value of the thing whicli it taxes, as well as the amount of that tax. 

4th. That a strict and wise economy, in the disbursement of the public money, be 
steadily enforced ; and that, to that end, all useless establishments, all unnecessary 
offices and places foreign and domestic, and all extrava,gance, either in the collec- 
tion or expenditure of the public revenue, be abolished and repressed. 

I have not time to dwell on details in the application of this principle. I will say 
that a pruning knife, long, broad, and sharp, should be applied to every department 
of the government. There is abundant scope for honest and skilful surgery. The 
annual expenditure may, in reasonable time, be brought down from its present 
amount of about forty millions to near one-third of that sum. 

5th. The several stales have made sucli great and gratifying progress in their re- 
spective systems of internal improvement, and have been so aided by the distribution 
under the deposite act, that, in future, the erection of new roads and canals should be 
left to iheui with suc!\ further aid only from the general government as they would 
dorive from the payment of the last instalment under that act, from an absolute re- 
linquishment of the right of Congress to call upon them to refund the previous in- 
stalments, and froratlieir equal and just quotas, to be received by a future dis'ribu- 
tiim of the nett proceeds from the sales of the public lands. 

And6ih. Tluit the right to slave property, being guarantied by the constitution, 
and recognized as one of the compromise incorporated in that instrument by our ai. 
cestors, should be left where the constitution has placed it, undisturbed and unagi- 
lated by Cangress. 

These, fellow citizens, are views both of the structure of the government and of its 
administration, which apuearto me worthy of commanding the grave attention of the 
public and its new servants. Although, I repeat, 1 have neither authority nor pur- 
pose to commit any body else, I believe most, if not all of them, are entertained by 
the political friends with whom I liave acted. Whether the salutary refirms whicli 
they include will be effected or considered depends upon the issue of that great 
struzzle which is now going on thruusiiout all this country. This contest has had no 
parallel since the period of the revolution. In botli instances there is a similarity of 
object. That was to achieve, this is to preserve the liberties of the country. Let u:j 
catch the spirit which animated, and imitate the virtues which adorned our noble 
ancestors. Their devotion, their constancy, tlieir untiring activity, their perseve- 
rance, their indomitable resolution, tlieir sacrifices, their valor I If they fought for 
liberty ordcath, in the memorable languageof one of tlie most illustrious of iheiii, let 
us never forget that the prize now at hazard is liberty or slavery. We should be 
encouraged by the fact that the contest to the success of which they solemnly pledged 
their fortunes, their lives, and their sacred honor, was far more unequal than that in 
Avhich we are engaged. But, on the other hand, let us cautiously guard against too 
much confidence. History and experience prove that more has been lost by self 
confidence and contempt of enemies, than won by skill and courage. Our opp.inents 
are powerful in numbers and in organization, active, insidious, possessed of ample 
means, and wholly unscrupulous in the use of them. They count upon success bj 
the use of two words, democracy and federalism — democracy which, in violation of 



504 SPEECH AT HANOVER, VA. 

all truth, they appropriate to themselves, and federalism which, in violation of all 
justice, they apply to us. And allow me to conjure you not lo suflfer yourselves to be 
diverted, deceived, or discouraged by the false rumors which will be industriously 
circulated, between the present time and the period of the election, by our opponents. 
They will put them forth in every variety, and without number, in the most imposing 
forms, certified and sworn to by conspicuous names. They will brwr, they will boast, 
they will threaten. Regardless of all their arts, let us keep steadily and faithfully 
and fearlessly at work. 

But if the opposition pprform its whole duty, if every member of it act as in the 
celebrated battle of Lord Nelson, if the eyes of the whole nation were fixed on him, 
and as if on his sole exertions depended the issue of the day, I sincerely believe that 
at least twenty of the stales of the Union will unite in the glorious work of the salva- 
tion of the constitution and the redemption of the country. 

Friends and fellow citizens, I have detained you too long. Accept my cordial 
thanks and my profound acknowledgments for the honors of this day, and for all 
your feelings of attachment and confidence tov/ards me; and allow me in conclu- 
sion, to propose a sentiment : 

Hanover county : it was the first, in the commencement of the revolution, to raise 
its arms, under the lead of Patrick Henry, in defence of American liberty ; it will be 
the last to prove false or recreant to the holy cause. 



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